Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture: Japanese Printmakers in New England (1900–1960)

Speakers: Dr. Kendall Brown (California State University Long Beach), Dr. Alice Tseng (Boston University), and Fiona Collins-Rosedahl (Worcester Art Museum) 

Shin hanga (“new prints”) designers produced some of the most iconic images in Japanese art history, from Mt. Fuji at sunset to snow-laden bridges under willow trees. The movement emerged in Japan in the early 1900s, initially catering to collectors’ taste for Edo period ukiyo-e, before evolving into a distinctive international art movement. The Worcester Art Museum’s foundational collection of approximately 3,000 Edo period prints—gifted by John Chandler Bancroft in 1901—was the first public collection of Japanese prints in an American museum, transforming WAM into a hub for the new movement and making it one of the first American institutions to display works by living Japanese artists through groundbreaking exhibitions and lectures. 

This spring, join us for a panel discussion between Fiona C. Rosedahl, the curator of Reflections of a Changing Japan: The Evolution of Shin Hanga (on view March 29–June 29, 2025), and two leading scholars on early 20th-century Japanese art: Dr. Kendall Brown (California State University Long Beach) and Dr. Alice Tseng (Boston University). Together, they will explore the presence of shin hanga in New England, the movement’s regional audience, and the inter-museum relationships that fostered connections with Japanese printmakers in the early 20th century.