Rinpa Painting from Edo-Period Japan is in the Spotlight in Upcoming Exhibition at NOMA
This fall, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) opens Second Nature: Japanese Rinpa Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection, an immersive look at this influential tradition. One of the most distinctive schools of Japan’s Edo period (1615–1868), Rinpa artists combined specialized ink painting techniques with a shimmering, polychrome palette in compositions depicting natural scenes.
Opening October 2, 2026, Second Nature includes an extraordinary collection of nearly 60 paintings in an array of formats, including hanging scrolls, folding screens, fans, albums, and handscrolls, as well as ceramics and decorative arts, to offer new insights and perspectives into Rinpa painting and the role of artist Sakai Hōitsu in defining the style from its disparate progenitors.
Second Nature is drawn primarily from the remarkable collection of Alice Yelen Gitter and the late Dr. Kurt A. Gitter, with additional works from NOMA’s collection. The exhibition is organized by NOMA with guest curator Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, in coordination with Dr. Gitter over the final years of his life.
“This exhibition reconsiders the influential and beautiful tradition of Rinpa painting,” said Susan M. Taylor, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director. “We are grateful to Alice Yelen Gitter for sharing these works with NOMA and our visitors from around the world. It is a remarkable opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in Edo-period painting.”
“Rinpa is one of the most widely admired traditions of Japanese painting from the early modern era. But it is a ’school’ in a very specific sense, developed by artists discovering and communing with much earlier artists from different backgrounds,” said curator Yukio Lippit. “The history of Rinpa was traditionally told in a fairly orthodox manner, but recent decades have highlighted new themes and the roles of previously overlooked artists. The Gitter-Yelen Collection anticipated these developments and allows us the opportunity to take a fresh look at a visually spectacular story of Japanese art.”
Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658–1716), Leaf from a pair of albums. Ink and color on paper, 31.8 x 28 cm each. Gitter-Yelen Collection
Second Nature positions Sakai Hōitsu (1757–1828) as a pivotal figure and “founder” of Rinpa, as it was his late 18th-century rediscovery and revival of the artistic achievements of Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) from nearly a century earlier that formed the foundation of this style. “Rinpa” literally translates to “School of Kōrin.”
Kōrin excelled at ink painting and also introduced new approaches to the painting medium from other craft traditions such as textiles and lacquer. The result was an inter-media approach that combined picture and pattern in stylized, abstract ways that showcased the colors and materiality of the artwork. This renewed awareness of Kōrin’s contributions led, in turn, to an interest in his predecessors, most notably the Kyoto artists Hon’ami Kōetsu and Tawaraya Sōtatsu. Second Nature includes a selection of works by Kōrin, Kōetsu, Sōtatsu, and others who, due to Hōitsu’s scholarship, are now regarded as the originators of Rinpa painting.
Among the important artists who contributed to the early formulation of Rinpa is Nakamura Hōchū (d. 1819). Little is known about Hōchū’s biography other than that he was born in Kyoto, arrived in Edo sometime in 1799, and died in Osaka in 1819. He appears to have been a litterateur with impressive knowledge of Buddhist texts and haikai poetry. He was also among the earliest artists to call attention to Kōrin’s legacy, publishing an illustrated book on Kōrin in 1802, albeit one that consisted of his own copies or reinterpretations of Kōrin’s work.
In 1815, Hōitsu commemorated the centenary anniversary of Ogata Kōrin’s death with an exhibition and publication of one hundred of Kōrin’s paintings. Through his study of Kōrin, Hōitsu developed a similar style that was later transmitted and furthered by his many disciples in Edo.
One of the most celebrated works included in the exhibition is Hōitsu’s Triptych of Flowers and the Rising Sun, widely considered one of the most important Rinpa paintings outside of Japan. With its superlative composition, inkwork, and use of color, the triptych embodies the pictorial qualities that have characterized Rinpa for centuries.
Also on view are additional works by Hōitsu’s followers, including Suzuki Kiitsu, active during the first half of the 19th century. Particularly notable are the outstanding works by Sakai Ōho, who was adopted by Hōitsu at the age of ten and later became one of his most outstanding students.
Kamisaka Sekka (1866–1942) is the figure most responsible for the transmission of Rinpa style into the modern era. Sekka’s path to Rinpa was circuitous; he studied abroad in Glasgow and was drawn to Art Nouveau, which in turn was heavily influenced by Rinpa approaches. Upon his return to Japan, Sekka played an important role in reconceiving Rinpa artistry into the modern language of design, producing paintings, woodblock prints, and lacquerware of unique appeal.
Kamisaka Sekka (Japanese, 1866–1942), Dancing Figures (detail), 1905-1915. Single screen: Ink, gold, and colors on paper. Gitter-Yelen Collection
In the modern era, the Rinpa legacy was reframed not only by Sekka, but also by practitioners of a neo-traditional form of painting, known as Nihonga, that arose in the late 19th century. While using traditional formats, materials and subjects, Nihonga artists selectively introduced aspects of European pictorialism to give their works greater legibility to international audiences and modern sensibilities.
Initially Nihonga artists based their understanding of traditional Japanese painting on Edo schools such as the Kano and Maruyama-Shijō. From the 1910s onward, however, a new generation of artists aspired to bring Nihonga closer to European Post-Impressionist movements and were drawn to the abstraction and visual dynamism of Rinpa. Second Nature features a twelve-panel album by Hirai Baisen celebrating the visual beauty of the landscape throughout the year.
“This exhibition demonstrates our longstanding commitment to presenting a full story of Edo-period art at NOMA,” said Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Deputy Director and Curator of Asian Art. “We are honored to share such an important collection of works that will reintroduce this influential tradition to many of our visitors.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by a newly published catalogue, which will include full color images as well as texts from Rotondo-McCord and Lippit.
Selected Programs and Events
The museum will present a half-day symposium on Saturday, October 3, examining current research surrounding Rinpa and Edo-period painting. Speakers will include Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University; John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Frank Feltons, Chief Curator, Seattle Art Museum; and Tomoko Sakomura, Professor of Art History, Swarthmore College. For additional information and registration, visit noma.org.
On Saturday, October 10, NOMA hosts Japan Fest in partnership with the Japan Club of New Orleans and the Consulate General of Japan in Nashville. With a full day of activities and performances in the museum and NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden, Japan Fest is the largest celebration of Japanese art and culture in the Gulf South. Details, schedule, and tickets are available at noma.org.
NOMA’s Salon Supper Club Presented by First Horizon Bank continues on Thursday, October 15, with an evening inspired by Second Nature. Launched in 2025, this event series invites chefs to collaborate with the museum on unique experiences highlighting exhibitions and works on view. The evening’s guest chef is Sue Zemanick of the Michelin-starred restaurant Zasu. Learn more at noma.org.
About Alice Yelen Gitter, Dr. Kurt A. Gitter, and Japanese Art at NOMA
On view in NOMA’s first-floor Ella West Freeman Galleries, Second Nature is an extension of the longtime support of Dr. Kurt A. Gitter and Alice Yelen Gitter.
An accomplished art educator and curator, Alice Yelen Gitter is the steward of the Gitter-Yelen Collection, which includes significant works of Japanese art, including from the Nanga, Zenga, Eccentric, Ukiyo-e, and Maruyama-Shijo schools, as well as modern Japanese ceramics and works by American self-taught artists.
The Gitter-Yelen Art Study Center is an initiative of the Gitter-Yelen Foundation whose mission is to educate and encourage interest and scholarship in the fields of Japanese art and self-taught American art through direct viewing, exhibitions, digital media, publications, lectures, and symposia.
In the late 1960s, while developing his practice as a retinal surgeon in New Orleans, the late Dr. Gitter (1937–2026) began collecting Japanese art. Within a short period of time, he had created a world-class collection of Zenga and Nanga paintings. These formed the foundation of a uniquely important art collection that has been featured in exhibitions around the world.
Alice Yelen-Gitter and Dr. Gitter have made the New Orleans Museum of Art the focus of their philanthropy. Dr. Gitter was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1973, and was later named an Honorary Life Trustee in 1991. Over the years, the Gitters have donated nearly 350 works of art to NOMA, and facilitated the donations of scores of other gifts from friends, family, and colleagues. These donations, both direct and indirect, form the core of NOMA’s Japanese art collection, which had only two paintings of note prior to 1972.
NOMA now holds one of the foremost collections of Edo-period Japanese painting in a public collection outside of Japan. In 2003, NOMA presented Gitter with the museum’s Isaac Delgado Award for his distinguished lifelong service to the institution and the field, and in 2024 named the Kurt A. Gitter, M.D., and Alice Yelen Gitter Gallery which presents highlights of NOMA’s Japanese art collection.
Second Nature recognizes the Gitters’ important contributions to the understanding of Rinpa and their focus on late Edo painters such as Hōitsu’s disciples and Kamisaka Sekka.
About the Curator
Yukio Lippit is the Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. He is the author of many books and articles on Japanese and East Asian art, including the prize-winning Painting of the Realm: The Kano House of Painters in Seventeenth-Century Japan (University of Washington Press, 2012) and Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by Itō Jakuchū (National Gallery of Art, 2012), and most recently Ten Kings of Hell: The Afterlife in Medieval Korea (with Sooa Im McCormick, Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026) and “The Shōsōin Imperial Treasury: Three Perspectives” (Archives of Asian Art, 2026).
Lippit has taught at the Universities of Tokyo, Heidelberg, Los Andes, Campinas, and Melbourne. From 2013 to 2018, he served as the Johnson-Kulukundis Family Faculty Director of the Arts at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, and in 2018 was appointed Harvard College Professor for distinguished contributions to undergraduate teaching.
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