ASIA WEEK NEW YORK EXHIBITION & EVENT
Yoshio Okada and Modern Japanese Paintings
March 19 – 27, 2026
Book Launch: Tuesday, March 24, 1:30-4pm (remarks at 2:30pm)
Asia Week Reception: Tuesday, March 24, 5:30-7:30pm
Special AWNY Hours: Daily, 11am-5pm
In celebration of Asia Week New York 2026, we are proud to announce our exhibition Yoshio Okada and Modern Japanese Paintings.
Yoshio Okada is recognized worldwide for his brilliance in harnessing the traditional Japanese craft of lacquer to contemporary modes of visual expression. The exhibition is centered around two of his most innovative series: “Celestial Phenomena” and “Jellyfish.”
The “Celestial Phenomena” series is devoted to depictions of heavenly bodies seen through fleeting clouds; Okada’s “Jellyfish” series was inspired by the idea of ocean creatures resembling multiple moons reflected on the surface of the night sea. The resulting works are compelling fusions of time-honored skills with contemporary sensibility.
The works by Okada are complemented by folding screens and hanging scroll paintings from the Taisho era (1912-26) and early Showa era (1926-1989), a time of great change for Japan and its arts. Superb works were created for the domestic market, in contrast to the export-oriented output during the preceding Meiji era (1868-1912). Though most painters of the Taisho and early Showa eras typically remained focused on traditional themes, they often experimented with new materials and perspectives. They shifted from stylized depictions of nature to naturalistic botanical studies. Making trips abroad, many painters incorporated foreign elements from their travels into their work.
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Book Launch
Tuesday March 24, 1:30–4:00pm (remarks at 2:30pm)
Join us for a special event to celebrate the publication of JAPANESE BASKETS: Woven Art for an Endangered Planet during Asia Week New York. Published by Rizzoli USA, the book showcases more than 160 of the finest baskets from the Naej Collection, highlighting the spectacular forms of the objects as well as exquisite details such as weaving patterns, intricate undersides, and elegant signatures. Detailed texts and informative captions reveal the secrets of an art that is experiencing a renewed interest in bamboo as a durable, ecological material.
Most of the photographs have been shot against specially created backgrounds designed to recall the enigmatic architectural fantasies of surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. Others present baskets with exquisite contemporary flower arrangements seen against the backdrop of trash-processing facilities, underscoring the book’s advocacy of bamboo as a durable, renewable resource that challenges our polluting, throwaway plastic culture.
We look forward to welcoming you soon!
About the Gallery
Thomsen gallery, located in a townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, offers important Japanese paintings and works of art to collectors and museums worldwide. The gallery specializes in Japanese screens and scrolls; in early Japanese tea ceramics from the medieval through the Edo periods; in masterpieces of ikebana bamboo baskets; and in gold lacquer objects. It further specializes in post-war ink art and Gutai art as well as contemporary art by select artists, such as the internationally renowned Japanese ceramic artist Sueharu Fukami, the paper artist Kyoko Ibe, and the lacquer artist Yoshio Okada.
The gallery is owned by Erik and Cornelia Thomsen, who live and work in New York. Erik has been a dealer in Japanese art since 1981; born to Danish parents and raised in Japan, he is fluent in Japanese and was the first foreigner to apprentice to an art dealer in Japan. They have three children, Julia, Anna, and Georg.
