For Europeans during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, China—or Cathay as it was sometimes called—was a magical place. This exhibition includes nine Chinoiserie textiles and embroideries from the Museum's outstanding collection.

Kansai Yamamoto is one of the founding fathers of Japanese contemporary fashion. Best known for his work during the 1970s and 1980s, his avant-garde designs are inspired by the colorful Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) and traditional Kabuki theatre. The exuberant Pop-like quality of his work contrasts with what is today associated with Japanese fashion, Zen-like simplicity and deconstructed silhouettes.

The mysterious Thomas Chambers arrived in the United States from England in 1832, worked for three decades as a marine and landscape painter, and then disappeared after 1866, leaving behind a boldly expressive and puzzling body of work. This exhibition—the first major survey of Chambers’ work since his rediscovery in 1942—seeks to define his style, examine his sources, and investigate the popular audience for landscape and marine painting in the mid-nineteenth century.

The paintings in this exhibition illustrate the diverse practice of folk artists working in the northeastern United States during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The selection demonstrates the array of individual styles inspired by different creative environments outside the "academic" art world, from the professional painter trained in a commercial workshop to the self-taught artist or amateur.