Kakemono: Five Centuries of Japanese Painting at MAO Turin

The Museo d'Arte Orientale (MAO) in Turin presents 'Kakemono. Five centuries of Japanese painting', the first Italian exhibition dedicated to the kakemono (or kakejiku), vertical painted scrolls that are the East Asian equivalent of Western paintings. The show features 125 kakemono from the collection of Claudio Perino, a Turin-based collector and former MAO collaborator, enriched over the years with lacquers and painted fans. The works span from the 15th to the 20th century and are organized into five thematic sections—flowers and birds (kachō-ga), anthropomorphic figures, animals, plants, landscapes, and waterfalls—rather than chronologically or by school (Kanō, Tosa, Rinpa, Shijō-Maruyama, Nanga, Ukiyo-e, Nihonga, Yōga, suibokuga). Curator Matthi Forrer, professor of Material Culture of Premodern Japan at Leiden University, emphasizes the comparative approach, juxtaposing painters from different traditions rendering similar subjects. Artists include Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716), Kishi Ganku (1749–1839), Tani Bunchō (1763–1841), and Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783–1856). The exhibition runs until April 25, 2022. A catalogue is published by Skira. Outgoing MAO director Marco Guglielminotti Trivel notes that unlike Western rigid canvases, kakemono are designed for temporary display—unfurled for a special day or season in the tokonoma of Japanese homes, or briefly in Chinese gardens for a circle of literati—embodying impermanence and movement.