Dr. Robert Mintz, Associate Curator of Asian Art at the Walters Art Museum, will be giving a talk on Japanese Samurai armor in the Woodrow Wilson House collection at Woodrow Wilson House on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 4 PM. The talk is being held as part of Woodrow Wilson House’s Members Appreciation day in honor of the new exhibition, 101 Wonders of Woodrow Wilson House: Hidden Treasures from the Presidential Collection, which opened on March 4, 2009.

Among the treasures featured in the exhibition are two sets of Samurai armor, gifts from Japan. One set of armor dates from the 16th century and is believed to have belonged to Minamoto-no-Osatada, a descendant of Emperor Daigo, the 60th Emperor of Japan, who reigned from 898 to 930 AD. According to the original Japanese inscription, the design was copied from armor worn by Yoshimura Nobumitsu, who fought under Fukushima Masanori in the Japanese invasion of Korea (1593-1598) led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the feudal ruler who unified Japan in 1590. Dr. Mintz will be discussing the significance of Samurai armor as a gift and its role in Japanese military history.

The event is open to the public and free to members of the Woodrow Wilson House and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Standard admission charges apply. To RSVP please call 202.387.4062 ext.15.

About our speaker

Robert Mintz (Ph.D. University of Washington) is the Associate Curator of Asian art at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. His interest in the arts emerged while a student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and his fascination with Asia began while studying at the University of Michigan during the 1980s. After living in rural Japan and finding limitless inspiration in Japanese art and culture, Robert returned to the US to study the history of Japanese art at the University of Washington. There he earned a doctorate for his explorations of works by the eighteenth-century Japanese poet and painter Yosa Buson. Since completing this project, he has explored topics ranging from Japanese medieval narrative paintings to contemporary institutional architecture and the post-pop avant-garde in Asia. His most recent work appears in the newest issue of Arts of Asia magazine and in the forthcoming book, Japanese Cloisonné Enamel due out later this year. During the past decade Robert has held positions as lecturer and adjunct professor of Asian art history at Central Washington University, Seattle University, and the University of Washington, and has lectured widely on topics linked to his interests in the arts of East Asia.