The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art will open "Yoshida Fujio: Secret Gardens" on Saturday, Sept. 12, giving Sarasota art lovers nearly seven months to explore the work of a Japanese woman who was among the first to train in Western-style oil painting.

She lived to be 100.

The exhibition runs through Sunday, April 4, 2027.

Yoshida Fujio (1887–1987) was born in Oita Prefecture, Japan, and enrolled at Tokyo's private Western painting school, Fudōsha, in 1899, when she was 12 years old. She went on to build an international career as a printmaker and painter while championing women in the arts, according to the Ringling's July 28 announcement of the show.

The museum described Fujio as a pioneering artist, world traveler and champion of women in the arts.

"Secret Gardens" draws from the collections of Roberta and Bill Stein and the Ringling's permanent collection. According to the museum's exhibitions page, the show brings together woodblock prints and one painting spanning key moments in Fujio's career, from early naturalistic works to the striking abstractions of her later decades. A featured work in the exhibition's promotional materials is "Ladyslipper Orchids" (1954), a woodblock print in ink and color on paper.

Fujio was the adopted sister and later wife of renowned woodblock print artist Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950), according to the Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions. Hiroshi Yoshida's work was the subject of the Ringling's "Yoshida Hiroshi: Journeys Through Light" exhibition, which ran from June 21, 2025, through Jan. 11, 2026. The new show gives visitors a chance to see the other half of that artistic family.

Admission details and the gallery location have not been posted. Visitors can check ringling.org for ticketing information.

What else is on view at the Ringling?

  • "Canvas City: The Materials of the Tented Circus" — through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027
  • "Andrea Carlson: A Constant Sky" — through Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026
  • "The Evocative Lens: Pictorialism and the Rise of Art Photography" — through Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026
  • "Acquisitions in Photography 2020–2025" — opens Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026
  • Night of Wonder season celebration — Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, featuring Grammy-nominated Cuban vocalist José "Pepito" Gomez and La Royal Orquesta in the Museum of Art Courtyard.