Meisen Kimono – Art for Wall and to Wear

Discover a world of bold colour and beautiful patterns when Danish artist and textile designer Henriette Friis showcases her large private collection of Japanese Meisen silk kimonos.

The whole world walks through the Round Tower. This sum- mer, a colorful surge of inspiration from Japan envelops the Library Hall in an exhibition curating 96 long and short kimonos from Henriette Friis’ private collection.

The handpicked pieces originate from the heyday of the Meisen Kimono between 1910 and 1955 where Japanese kimono artists drew inspiration from Western modernist art. The exhibition tells a story about a collector’s passion for textile design, art and craftsmanship – and mutual inspiration between Europe and Japan.

Cross-country inspiration

In the first part of the 20th century, modernist European art inspired Japanese artists to create kimonos in large compositions and bold colours with both stylistic flowers and nonfigurative abstractions. Through the 1920’s and 30’s they became popular with middle-class urban Japanese women, who expressed themselves by dressing in the colorful designs. In the 1960s and 1970s, these compositions again inspired Scandinavian textile design, such as Finnish Marimekko.

Henriette Friis has a background as an artist and textile designer. In the exhibition “Meisen Kimono – Art for Wall and to Wear” she presents 96 silk kimonos from her own private collection.
Read more on https://www.meisenkimonocollection.com/

The exhibition is supported by the Toyota Foundation.