MFA Gallery Tour: Asian Influences in Early American Art

Step into the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s newly reimagined Art of the Americas Wing and discover the influences of Asian aesthetics, materials, and ideas in the continental Americas.

Guided by curatorial staff Nanase Shirokawa, Layla Bermeo, and Nonie Gadsden, the visit will offer fresh perspectives on the history and legacy of the China Trade and the Manila Galleons, and highlight recent acquisitions including a 17-foot biombo, a Mexican folding screen inspired by Japanese byōbu.

An exclusive opportunity to explore the gallery in a private setting, this tour invites close looking, thoughtful conversation, and a deeper understanding of the global influences embedded in American art history.

Museum admission and tour are free of charge. The MFA is closed to the public on this day, so the tour will be provided in a private environment and other galleries will not be available for viewing.

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Nanase Shirokawa is curatorial research associate, Art of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her research interests include public art and monuments, legacies of imperialism in the Pacific, and Asian/Asian-American art and architecture. Previously, she held positions at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the Architectural League of New York, Williams College Museum of Art, and the Frick Collection. She holds a B.A. in art history from Williams College and a M.S. in architecture and art history from MIT.

Layla Bermeo is the Kristin and Roger Servison Curator of Paintings, Art of the Americas, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She previously held curatorial positions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia. She holds an MA from Williams College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. At the MFA, Layla co-organized Collecting Stories: Native American Art, curated Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular and authored the accompanying bilingual publication, and developed the “Curatorial Study Hall” program for local teens. In 2019, WBUR, a National Public Radio news station, named Layla as one of the 25 millennials of color impacting Boston arts.

Nonie Gadsden is the Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She earned her B.A. from Yale College and her M.A. from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. Gadsden is responsible for a wide range of artwork at the MFA including decorative arts and sculpture from North, Central and South America, from ancient times through the 20th century. Her recent work includes mounting the exhibition “Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction” (2023-24), serving as lead curator for “Women Take the Floor” (2019-2021); developing new 20th century galleries, including “Art and Jazz” and “Folk Meets Modernism” (opened 2022); and publishing a book based on the MFA’s collection of American modern design, America Goes Modern: The Rise of the Industrial Designer (2022).