HKF Thesis Award, exhibition visit and lecture

The Heinz Kaempfer Fund Thesis Award

On May 18 the award ceremony of the 2024 Heinz Kaempfer Fund Thesis Award will take place in the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden.

The HKF Thesis Award is presented biennially and carries a prize of 1000 Euros for the author of an outstanding  thesis in the field of Japanese art and visual culture, written in the context of a Master programme provided by a European university. In addition the winner is given the opportunity to publish their findings in Andon, the journal of the Society for Japanese Art.

The winner is chosen by a panel of distinguished scholars and curators. The chair is Menno Fitski, Head of Asian Art at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Exhibition visit and lecture

The award ceremony will be followed by an introductory lecture (in English) to the Japan Museum SieboldHuis exhibition 'Turbulent Times: Dutch-Japanese relations and the last days of the Samurai (1853-1867)' by the exhibition curator Jim Dwinger. The exhibition sheds light on the diplomatic relationship between Japan and the Netherlands during a time when the Tokugawa shogunate faced external and internal pressure to change its policies on interstate relations, international trade, and maritime defence. After the lecture attendees can invited to view the exhibition. All SJA members have free access to this event.