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Paw Prints: Cats and the Floating WorldSaturday, November 7, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.
Leonhardt Auditorium at the Vero Beach Museum of Art
$12 per person for VBMA Members; $15 per person for non-members
Space is limited; pre-registration required.
Tickets include admission to the galleries.
In 2024, Hello Kitty celebrated her Golden Jubilee as reigning Queen of Japanese Popular Culture since 1974. Since then, Japan’s reputation as a nation of cat-lovers has only grown through the popularity of cat temples, cat islands, cat cafes, and innumerable feline celebrities. However, Japan’s ailurophilia has a much longer history, which is vividly depicted in centuries of Japanese art and visual culture, especially in woodblock prints. Depending on the context, they may elevate the mood, invite good fortune, prompt the viewer to meditate on a tale, or provide evidence of an unseen world of magic and supernatural happenings.
Rhiannon Paget is the Curator of Asian Art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida State University. She has published research on paintings, textiles, popular visual culture, and especially woodblock prints, and curated numerous exhibitions of art from across the Asian continent. Her most recent books are Divine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Art (2023), Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World (2023), and Saitō Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening (2021).
🎨 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1839–1892, 'Appearing Tiresome, Behavior of a Maiden of the Kansei Era' (detail), 1888. Published by Tsunajima Kamekichi. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 14 11/16 x 10 in (37.31 x 25.4 cm). Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, gifts of various donors, by exchange, and gift of Edmond Freis in memory of his parents, Rose and Leon Freis.
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Event venue
3001 Riverside Park Dr, Vero Beach, FL, United States, Florida 32963
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