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Special Exhibition Gallery |
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Gallery 4 |
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Collection Gallery |
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Talks & Tours in the Museum Collection Gallery |
Schedule may be changed without notice. |
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Ono Chikkyo (1889-1979) has been familiar to many Japanese with his gentle landscapes that invite people to sentimentalism. In his youth he had an exceptional interest in modern Western paintings as a member of the Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai. Later he studied Nanga and Yamato-e to establish his own style. Celebrating the 120th anniversary of his birth, this exhibition will trace the painter's career with 119 masterpieces including the series For Haiku Poems in Basho's Narrow Road to a Far Province (1976) as well as 52 sketches.
*Closed on Mondays (except May 3 and July 19), May 6 and July 20, 2010
Presents new installations of Ito Toyo (b. 1941), Suzuki Ryoji (b. 1944), Naito Hiroshi (b. 1950), Atelier Bow-Wow (Tsukamoto Yoshiharu, b. 1965 and Kaijima Momoyo, b. 1969), Kikuchi Hiroshi (b. 1972), Nakamura Ryuji (b. 1972), Nakayama Hideyuki (b. 1972), including a space made using polyhedrons, a place where "space" is born and disappears, and an arbor that looks also like an animal.
Ito Toyo, The New Deichman Main Library Competition in Oslo, Norway
(2008-2009, Image: Kuramochi + Oguma) |
*Closed on Mondays (except September 20 and October 11), September 21 and October 12, 2010
Uemura Shoen,
Mother and Child (1934, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) |
Japanese-style painter Uemura Shoen (1875-1949) preferred motifs such as oridinary pepole as well as characters in history or yokyoku (Noh songs).She put strong affections into persons in her paintings, but at the same time maintained stern distance from them to produce graceful, sometimes somewhat rigorous portraits throughout her career. This exhibition presents about 100 masterpieces including Flame (1918) to explore the essence of Shoen's art. |
*Closed on Mondays
Aso Saburo,
Red Sky (1956, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) |
Aso Saburo (1913-2000) joined the Shinjin Gakai during World War II to maintain individual expression in an adverse situation. After the war, he developed expression that gets to the kernel of human existence. Staring at the subjects and creating dense clashes with space, his paintings are the trace of his struggles with the times and society that offer rich suggestions for today's paintings. This show presents about 130 oil paintings and drawings to retrospect on his work. |
*Closed on Mondays (except January 10) and January 11, 2011
From the 1920s to the 1930s, some artists rose in revolt against traditional expression also in the world of Nihonga or Japanese-style painting. Incorporating new trends such as Bauhaus and surrealism, the reform movement can be described as the first embodiment of avant-garde consciousness in Nihonga. Centering on Rekitei Bijutsu Kyokai formed in 1938, this exhibition introduces avant-garde Japanese-style paintings until the formation of the Pan Real Art Association, including pieces that have never been exhibited.
Yamaoka Ryobun, Spannung
(1938, private collection) |
*Closed on Mondays (except March 21, 28, April 4 and May 2) and March 22, 2011
Okamoto Taro (1911-1996) is an artist now actively reevaluated, as illustrated by his huge mural Myth of Tomorrow that has recently been put on public view. He confronted conventional values throughout his life, and said, "Today's art must not be done skillfully, must not be comely, must not be comfortable." This show examines the course of his confrontation from various angles including "antipolism," Jomon, and consumption society, to explore present-day significance of his art.
Okamoto Taro, Men Aflame
(1955, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) |
*Closed on Mondays (except March 22 and 29) and March 23, 2010
The genealogy of bather painting has never been broken in Western art. Deeply connected to female nudity, this traditional subject took on new meanings in each period, linking itself to themes such as sexuality and violence, life and death, through the feeling of contact between water and the body. This show explores the expanse of the bather motif including the reception and variations in modern Japanese art.
*Closed on Mondays (except May 3 and July 19), May 6 and July 20, 2010
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"If you want to paint, look at walls covered with stains. There you will find countless things, from trees to faces," said Leonardo da Vinci. These words tell us that stains are something beyond human intentions, and that people look for meaningful forms there. This show presents pieces of Enokura Koji(1942-1995) and others to reflect on the theme of "stains" in art works. |
Enokura Koji,
Two Spots, (1972, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) |
*Closed on Mondays (except September 20 and October 11), September 21 and October 12, 2010
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Yoshida Katsuro (1943-1999) used fingers. Abraham David Christian (b. 1952) made frottages using plants. Kobayashi Masato (b. 1957) drew candles lighting the dark. Their works highlight "hapticness" that characterizes drawings. This show offers about 30 pieces, as well as an opportunity for visitors to view the exhibits in dim light, to explore the relationship between the optical and haptical senses. |
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*Closed on Mondays
Suzuki Kiyoshi,
From Mind Games (1982, private collection) |
Photographer Suzuki Kiyoshi (1943-2000) is now attracting international attention for his carefully woven photo books. Using motifs such as his origin, contemporary society, time on travel and literary works, Suzuki created a multilayered world where reality, dreams and remembrance interwove each other. The exhibits include his early work Soul and Soul (1972), the welknown works Mind Games (1982) and Finish Dying (1994). |
*Closed on Mondays (except January 10) and January 11, 2011
Sakaegi Masatoshi, CLAY WAVE
(1989, Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music) |
Making free use of the model molding techniques, ceramic designer Sakaegi Masatoshi (b. 1944) handles all the processes from sketching to completion to connect users' ideas to his own with unrestricted freedom, thus creating high-quality products. This exhibition focuses mainly on his everyday vessels to explore Sakaegi's design thinking that extends over the acts of making and using. |
*Closed on Mondays (except March 21, 28, April 4 and May 2) and March 22, 2011
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In the figure-ground relationship, some pieces present empty figure instead of making the figure stand out against the ground. Some three-dimensional pieces attract viewers' attention to inner hollows rather than the solid mass. These pieces may be described as "negative" form making as opposed to positive form making. This show presents such pieces including paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures to examine their uncanny fascination. |
Muraoka Saburo, Negative Table: Joint (Crater)
(1998, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) |
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo boasts one of the most prominent collections of modern art in Japan, including eleven Important Cultural Properties (one of which is a deposited piece). The permanent exhibition at the collection galleries on the fourth to second floors of the main building aims to provide a historical overview on modern Japanese art from the beginning of the 20th century to today. It presents 170 to 220 pieces including overseas works selected from our museum's collection of 10,000 works, arranged into some chapters according to production dates. Many of the exhibits are changed four to five times a year. In addition, a small thematic show is given in each exhibition period to shed new light on the collection from various angles.
Exhibition periods, "Topic in Focus"” (fourth floor) and "Let's Browse with Topical Focus"(fourth to second floors)
February 20-April 11, 2010
Suda Kunitaro — Topic in Focus
Garden: Artists' Microcosm — Let's Browse with Topical Focus
*Closed on Mondays (except March 22 and 29) and March 23, 2010
April 20-August 8, 2010
Minami Kunzo — Topic in Focus
*Closed on Mondays (except May 3 and July 19), May 6 and July 20, 2010
August 14-October 17, 2010
Originality of Plaster Master — Topic in Focus
*Closed on Mondays (except September 20 and October 11), September 21 and October 12, 2010
October 23-December 19, 2010
Hasekawa Toshiyuki — Topic in Focus
*Closed on Mondays
December 25, 2010-February 13, 2011
Giving Expression to Deities — Topic in Focus
*Closed on Mondays (except January 10) and January 11, 2011;
closed from December 27, 2010 to January 1, 2011
February 22-May 8, 2011
Grass and Earth for the Artists at Sodosha — Topic in Focus
Fascination of Matiére — Let's Browse with Topical Focus
*Closed on Mondays (except March 21, 28, April 4 and May 2) and March 22, 2011
Kishida Ryusei,
Road Cut Through a Hill (1915), Important Cultural Property
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Paul Klee, Abstraction with Reference to a Flowering Tree (1925)
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Takamura Kotaro, Hand (c. 1918)
PHOTO: Sakamoto Photo Research Laboratory
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* The three works used to illustrate this article are not always shown at the gallery.
*Closed on Mondays (except March 22 and 29) and March 23, 2010