One of a Pair of Ramma (Transom) Panels from the Hooden, 1893. Takamura Koun, (1852-1934). Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago.

This program is held in conjunction with the non-profit International Women Associates’ membership. Members of IWA will have preference in reservations for this event. Non-members may contact Rare Nest Gallery to be placed on a waiting list for this event - keith@rarenestgallery.com or 708-616-8671

A B O U T T H E P R O G R A M

Art Institute curator Dr. Janice Katz will provide an historic and visual overview of Japan’s presence at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Phoenix Hall was Japan’s main national pavilion at the fair. Modeled on an 11th- century temple outside Kyoto, it stood out against the beaux-arts buildings that made up much of the rest of the fair, the so- called “White City.” After the fair, the Japanese government gave the Phoenix Hall to the city of Chicago. The story doesn’t end there - as the building and its contents continue to reveal exciting discoveries.

A B O U T J A N I C E K A T Z

Janice Katz is the Roger L. Weston Associate Curator of Japanese Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been with the museum for over 17 years. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2004. Her research focuses on paintings from the Edo period (1615-1868) and the history of art collecting in Japan. She was the primary author of the catalogue Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (2003), and the organizer of the exhibition Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum (2009). Her most recent exhibition at the Art Institute, Painting the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Masterpieces from the Weston Collection, and its accompanying catalogue focused on ukiyo-e paintings of the 17th through 20th centuries.