Screen with Edo-period kosode fragments featuring wisteria design

These two-panel screens (2019.15, 2019.16, and 2019.18) made in the twentieth century each include a silk kimono remnant from the Edo period (1615–1868). The silk fabrics are shaped into kimonos and are applied to look like they are hanging o n a lacquered wood hanger and a stand. This is an ingenious way to make use of the vintage fabric remnants— preserving evidence of a significant aspect of Edo-period history. Intact early kimonos are rare today, but they appear in the Edo-period screen paintings known as tagasode (“Whose Sleeves”). There, draped on lacquered clothing racks against a shimmering gold ground, they allude to “the presence of an unseen woman.” The Nomura screens emulate Edo-period tagasode screens inasmuch as they showcase a beautifully decorated robe, resting on a stand with its wearer off-camera—but with a modern twist in the form of three-dimensional elements.

Nomura Shojiro (1879–1943), a Kyoto textile collector, designed and had made many screens in this fashion between about 1900 and 1943. These screens on view were donated to the Asian Art Museum by direct descendants of Nomura, now residents of the Bay Area.