Wednesday 13 May, 2026
5:00pm BST - 6:15pm BST
In person lecture at the Thomas Paine Study Centre Lecture Theatre, University of East Anglia (NR4 7TJ) and online via Zoom.
60 min lecture followed by a reception at the Sainsbury Centre.
Free and open to all, booking essential.
To check your time zone conversion if you are joining from outside the UK, click here.
The Robert Sainsbury Lecture is given in honour of Sir Robert Sainsbury, who with Lisa, Lady Sainsbury, donated their art collection to the University of East Anglia. The lecture is currently hosted at UEA, in turn, by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts & Cultures, the Sainsbury Centre and the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas.
Please note this talk will replace our usual Third Thursday Lecture for May.
To attend in person, please email sisjac@sainsbury-institute.org or call +44 (0) 1603 597507 to book your place. Zoom booking is available at the bottom of this page.
Doors open at 16:45. Map of the location below.
Speaker
Katsuo Suzuki (Chief Curator, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
About the talk
Founded in 1952 as Japan’s first national art museum, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo focuses on collecting, researching, and exhibiting modern and contemporary Japanese art from the late 19th century to the present. This presentation will explore how the museum has developed the concept of “dialogue”—which has been at the core of its activities since its renovation in 2002—through specific exhibition examples. This has been an endeavor to critically reexamine “Japan,” “modernity,” and “fine art” from various perspectives.
About the speaker
Born in Tokyo, Japan. Received M.A. (Art History) from the University of Tokyo. Has worked at current museum since 1998, specializing in Japanese and Western modern art. Curatorial Projects include “Brazil: Body Nostalgia”(2004), “Okinawa Prismed: 1872-2008”(2008), “Experimental Ground 1950s”(2012), “Awakenings: Art and Society in Asia”(2018), “Takahata Isao: A Legend in Japanese Animation”(2019), “100 Years of Mingei: The Folk Crafts Movement”(2022) and “Opening Documents, Weaving Memories: A Special Exhibition Featuring Works from the Museum Collection”(2025). Lives and works in Tokyo.
Image: WADA, Sanzo Mandara for Rousing Asians, 1940
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
This lecture forms part of the Japan Studies: Past, Present and Future series in collaborations with the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Courtauld Institute of Art.
The Third Thursday Lecture series is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Yakult UK.