The Interplay of Image and Text: Japan, Japonisme and Japonaiserie at Hill-Stead Museum
REGISTER HERE Please join us on Wednesday, April 1 at 6PM for a lecture by Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Ethel Walker Head of School. The Interplay of Image and Text: Japan, Japonisme and Japonaiserie at Hill-Stead Museum Whether embodying courtly values or popular townsmen culture, the remarkable collection of art objects in Hill-Stead’s collection often intertwine writing and image in various ways: decorative, narrative and allusive. Poetry, scripture, prose and drama both inspire visual representation and themselves reflect codified and iconic…
when
April 1, 2026 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
where
35 Mountain Rd
Farmington,
CT
United States
about
REGISTER HERE
Please join us on Wednesday, April 1 at 6PM for a lecture by Dr. Meera Viswanathan, Ethel Walker Head of School.
The Interplay of Image and Text: Japan, Japonisme and Japonaiserie at Hill-Stead Museum
Whether embodying courtly values or popular townsmen culture, the remarkable collection of art objects in Hill-Stead’s collection often intertwine writing and image in various ways: decorative, narrative and allusive. Poetry, scripture, prose and drama both inspire visual representation and themselves reflect codified and iconic imagery. In this interactive presentation, we will look at this layering of words and images through five objects in the collection. Cocktail reception to follow. Register Here.
Tickets
$20 members
$25 non-members
About
Dr. Meera Viswanathan joined Walker’s from Brown University, where she was an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and East Asian Studies.
A lifelong educator and scholar, Meera holds her undergraduate degree, her M.A., and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Meera was born in Madras, India and emigrated at age five to Los Angeles.
Meera joined Brown University as a Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in the Comparative Literature and East Asian Studies departments. Subsequently, she became an assistant professor and was promoted with tenure. Meera, who is fluent in seven languages including French, German, Latin, Classical Greek, Old English, and Old Norse, received several National Endowment for the Humanities grants and awards while at Brown.
Meera and her husband, Dr. Eric Widmer, former head of school at Deerfield Academy, were asked by King Abdullah II of Jordan to establish King’s Academy, the Middle East’s first co-educational college preparatory boarding school with financial aid. The school opened in 2007. Meera served as the school’s principal architect of the curriculum and dean of faculty. King Abdullah II personally awarded Meera the King Hussein Medal, Jordan’s highest honor, for her endeavors.