Comparable to the celebrity culture surrounding movie and television stars today, Kabuki
attracted enormous attention in nineteenth century Japan. Co-curators of the exhibition
Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater, Natsu Oyobe and Mariko Okada, will explore the
methods used by print artists to create these spectacular and much-loved Kabuki actor
prints, as well as the cultural context of their production.
Mariko Okada is Associate Professor at Faculty of Humanities, J. F. Oberlin
University, Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Okada received her Ph.D. from Waseda University in Tokyo in
2011. Her book The Birth of Kyōmai: Inoue-ryu Dance in Nineteenth-Century Kyoto,
Japan was released in 2013 and received several awards. Her current research interest is
fan culture of Kabuki and diversities of Kabuki culture. Dr. Okada is the co-curator
for Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from the Collection of the University of Michigan
Museum of Art.
Natsu Oyobe is UMMA's Curator for Asian Art and co-curator for Japanese Prints of
Kabuki Theater from the Collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the
Provost, the National Endowment for the Arts, the William T. and Dora G. Hunter
Endowment, AISIN, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the University
of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. Additional generous support is provided by the
Japan Foundation and the University of Michigan Institute for Research on Women and
Gender.