Knitted Together: The Korean Lives of Richard and Joan Rutt

Posted by: Lauren Barnes | Posted on: September 22nd, 2024

Knitted Together: The Korean Lives of Richard and Joan Rutt

Oriental Museum, Durham

28th September 2024 – 4th May 2025

Free entry, no booking required

Richard and Joan Rutt sharing a meal, South Korea, 1969

A new exhibition of South Korean objects and photographs from the 1950s – 1970s donated by Richard Rutt, also known as the ‘Knitting Bishop’ and his wife, Joan Rutt opens at Durham University’s Oriental Museum.

Knitted Together focuses on the lives and collection of two of the main donors to the Korean collection at the Oriental Museum, Richard and Joan Rutt. This exhibition showcases their collection along with new donations and items on loan from the Rutt family, with many works on display to the public for the first time.

Richard Rutt was Bishop of Daejeon in South Korea from 1968 – 1974 and first moved to South Korea to work as a priest one year after the end of the Korea War, in 1954. After Richard and Joan Rutt, returned to the UK in 1974, Richard served as the Bishop of Leicester, and his pastime of knitting resulting in him becoming widely known as ‘The Knitting Bishop’.

The exhibition includes objects from the Oriental Museum’s Korean collection donated by the Rutts, alongside objects relating to Richard’s knitting, including a knitted mitre, and objects relating to other interests such as translation, the Anglican Church in Korea, and their shared love of cats.

The exhibition is part of a project generously supported by the National Museum of Korea.