Project documentation
Surimono
The Surimono collection of the Graphic Arts Collection consists of 322 particularly elaborately printed Japanese woodcuts, most of which were created by the masters Hokkei, Gakutei and Hokusai. This valuable collection is a core part of the estate of the Ostasiatica collector Marino Lusy (1880-1954) and was donated to the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich in 1955. After it was scientifically documented on the TMS museum database in 2003, a further step was taken in 2004 to review the history of the collection. The results were recorded in an essay and served to prepare an extensive research project, which was carried out by an international team from 2006 to 2008. The project resulted in a publication as well as a partial exhibition (2006) and a complete exhibition (2008) at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich. The Surimono collection has been on permanent loan to the Museum Rietberg since 2005 and is now part of its permanent exhibition.
Information on
- Financing
Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF / DORE and practice partners Duration: 1.3. 2006 - 31.7.2008 Research institute: ZHdK, Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS
- Project management
Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade, Head of ICS Dr. Katharina Epprecht, Curator of the Japan Department of the Museum Rietberg Zurich Nadin Heé, lic. phil., Japanologist
- Consulting experts
Prof. Dr. John Carpenter, SOAS University of London Dr. Fumiko Kobayashi
- Preliminary project
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, 2003 to 2004 Nadine Hée, Japanologist, and Myrtha Steiner / Barbara Junod, Board of Trustees Graphics Collection With start-up funding from the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS
- Cooperations
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich Museum Rietberg Zürich Sainsbury Institute London
- Publications
Nadin Heé: "Japanese woodcut books" in: Librarium, 2003
Nadin Heé: A Collection of Japanese Woodblock Prints of the Highest Quality: The Collection History of the Surimono Collection in the Graphic Arts Collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, January 2005 [Print]
Nadin Heé: "Marino Lusy, Artist and Japanophile. The Legacy of His Surimono Collection", in: John Carpenter (ed.), Reading Surimono. The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints with a Catalogue of the Marino Lusy Collection, Zurich / Leiden: Museum Rietberg Zurich and Hotei Publishing, 2008, pp. 14-23