**PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A VIRTUAL PROGRAM THAT WILL TAKE PLACE VIA ZOOM. Registrants will receive a link to access the Zoom Meeting via email.**  

In 1854, American Commodore Matthew Perry forcibly reopened Japan’s ports to international trade after two centuries of virtual isolation. Soon after, Japanese lacquers, fans, textiles, prints, and ceramics flooded the Western market, attracting the attention of prominent collectors such as Isabella Stewart Gardner and artists like James McNeill Whistler. The ensuing “Japan Craze” in America also provided fresh inspiration for manufacturers, who incorporated Japanese motifs, compositions, and materials into the design of everyday household goods. By the turn of the twentieth century, the American home was saturated with elements of Japanese art and culture, both real and imagined. This presentation explores the enduring influence of Japan on American design, highlighting objects and stories from the Historic New England collection. 

Led by Erica Lome, Associate Curator at Historic New England. She was previously the Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Associate at the Concord Museum. Lome specializes in American material culture, with a focus on things made, owned, and used in New England and the contributions of immigrant craftspeople to that body of work.

Register directly on Zoom HERE.  Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

NOTE: This program will be recorded. All registrants will receive the recording via email within 24 hours of the program.