Ancient Japan’s Colorful ‘Tale of Genji’ Subject of Gallery Talk

JENNIFER McMANAMAY
College relations staff writer

John Goulde, professor of religion and director of Asian studies, will lead an informal gallery talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19 in Pannell Gallery. He will discuss an image on display in the current exhibition, “Language Arts: Images, Words, and Stories Selected From the Permanent Collection.” Admission is free and open to the public.

The work is a circa 1775-1790 woodblock print by Suzuki Harunobu depicting a scene from the third chapter of the ancient Japanese classic, “The Tale of Genji.” The novel was written in the 11th century by a noblewoman and tells of the romances and adventures of its colorful hero Genji, a prince in the emperor’s court.

Goulde’s presentation is the third in a series of talks held in conjunction with exhibitions of works from the College’s permanent art collection and the final one related to “Language Arts.” Faculty or staff members lead the talks, bringing to the discussion a perspective of the works from their own areas of interest and expertise.

“The focus is on the interesting story behind the images,” said SBC galleries director Karol Lawson, who organized the series with the aim of bringing visitors from both on and off campus into Pannell who are not regular patrons.

“Sometimes people are intimidated by art history,” she said. “With these informal gallery talks, I hope visitors will realize that they can learn about art while they’re also enjoying thrilling stories of derring-do, drama, romance, skullduggery.”

For more information, please contact Lawson at or Ext. 6248.