EXPEDITIONS

Frieda and Adolf Fischer founded the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne in 1909. Their first study tour together, from October 1897 to May 1899, brought the couple from Berlin to Japan. After staying in Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo, in spring 1898 Adolf Fischer visited the island of Taiwan, known historically as “Formosa”, which had been ruled by Imperial Japan since 1895.

The exhibition is centred on previously unpublished travel diaries, reports and photographs produced by Frieda and Adolf Fischer. Artworks purchased in Japan and ethnographic objects acquired in Taiwan provide evidence of the couple’s early collecting activities. The travelogues contain detailed descriptions of historical places and works of art, and give a vivid account of the Fischers’ encounters with important collectors and artists as well as local inhabitants. Adolf Fischer’s diary entries, in turn, offer an insight into his first-hand experiences and observations during his trip to Japan and Taiwan. They also include extensive information about individual purchases, packing lists and invoices. As valuable historical documents in their own right, the diaries provide an academically significant perspective on the art and culture, society and economy of the regions visited by Frieda and Adolf Fischer.

Alongside works belonging to the museum’s own collection, the exhibition also showcases loans from the Ethnological Museum in Berlin.

Mit freundlicher Unterstützung