The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection

Painting blossomed in Japan during the Edo period (1615–1868), as artists daringly experimented with conventional styles. In this exhibition, more than 40 examples of Edo-period paintings from the collection of Estelle P. Bender and her late husband T. Richard Fishbein—mostly gifts and promised gifts to The Met—will help trace the development of the major schools and movements of this fascinating era. Contemporary Japanese ceramics will be juxtaposed with Edo-period paintings, while works in various formats and media from The Met collection will provide context. The celebration of the natural world will serve as a unifying theme, and the intertwined relationship between poetry and the pictorial arts—so fundamental to Japanese tradition—will be a particular focus of the exhibition.