SAN FRANCISCO — Japonisme: A Passion for Japan, on view at the SFO Museum until April 2, 2023, features Japanese decorative arts made in the United States and Europe from the 1870s-1890s, all of which reflect an early and remarkable example of international cultural exchange between Japan and the West.
NEW YORK – Hand-wrought iron farmyard and kitchen tools, worked by blacksmiths over fiery forges, were unadorned until the early 1800s. As the craft evolved, however, wooden cupboards, dowry chests, sideboards and wardrobes were secured with increasingly ornate iron hinges, keys and locks. Realizing that the functional can also be beautiful, blacksmiths ran with the notion, producing all sorts of decorative wonders from wrought iron.