From December 5, 2025, to April 4, 2026, the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum presents the exhibition “Men’s Kimono”, curated by Lydia Manavello and Silvia Vesco, in collaboration with the Museum of Oriental Art Venice.
This fascinating exhibition explores the dialogue between Europe and Japan, tracing a path of mutual inspiration and cultural transformation between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Through a refined selection of garments, prints, and artworks, Men’s Kimono investigates how artistic styles crossed oceans and traditions, shaping new aesthetic identities.
The well-known phenomenon of Japonism—the Western fascination with Japanese art—is represented through works by Hiroshige, Utamaro, and Hokusai, whose influence profoundly marked European artists of the time, inspiring a new sensitivity to form, color, and composition. Yet the exhibition also turns the lens the other way, illuminating the lesser-known phenomenon of Occidentalism: the influence of Western culture on Japanese artistic expression.
At the heart of the display are exquisite men’s kimonos from the early 20th century, crafted in patterned or printed silk. These garments reveal how Japanese designers embraced Western aesthetics—geometric patterns, stylized motifs, and a taste for modernity—while reinterpreting them through the lens of traditional craftsmanship and symbolic meaning.
Men’s Kimono is thus a story of cultural reciprocity: a journey between East and West, tradition and innovation, where the threads of silk become a metaphor for the intertwined paths of global art and style.
Website: www.visitmuve.it
Location: Mocenigo Museum, Venice
Schedule: until April 4, 2026
