Yearly Calendar 2006

Kyohei Fujita
"Iris", decorative casket
1973
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

March 14 – May 21, 2006

The Crafts Gallery collects works by important crafts-artists and designers dating from the Meiji period (1868-1912) to the present day. 200 pieces that were added to our collection during the five years from 2001 to 2005. This exhibition presents acquisitions in recent years to trace the history of our collection building efforts. The Crafts Gallery’s collection comprises 2,500 pieces including numerous works by important Japanese craftspeople dating from the Meiji period to the present. This show presents 100 pieces from our collection, including ceramics, lacquerware, metal works, textiles, glass works and dolls.

Tadao Onishi
Mount Gahaishi
1977
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

May 27 – July 2, 2006

Since the Meiji period (1868-1912), Japanese crafts have lead the world in preserving excellent tradition, cultivating individual senses of beauty, and incorporating modernity. This show presents 100 masterpieces to offer an overview of the modern history of Japanese crafts, from gorgeous export crafts and works of craft-artists who advocated modern individuality, to postwar traditional crafts and those embodying artists’ thoughts on creation or shape making.

Jusetsu Miwa
Tea bowl, Hagi ware, onihagi type
1997
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

July 15 – September 24, 2006

Born in Hagi City in 1910, the ceramic artist Jusetsu Miwa helped his brother Kyusetsu Miwa X (later to become Kyuwa) produce tea utensils, became Kyusetsu XI in 1967, and designated a living national treasure in 1983. To trace his nearly eighty-year career, this retrospective presents 150 pieces that combine the tradition of Hagi ware with his original, splendid style.

Yasuki Hiramatsu
Brooch
1978
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

October 7 – December 10, 2006

Closely linked to contemporary art and incorporating diverse materials and concepts, postwar Japanese art jewelry has established itself as a remarkable field showing abundant creativity. This exhibition introduces various approaches to jewelry production that have appeared in a short timespan of fifty years, and explores the significance of jewelry as well as modernity inherent in art jewelry.

Gonroku Matsuda
Ornamental box, heron design, maki-e
1961
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

December 19, 2006 – February 25, 2007

A pivotal figure in the development of modern maki-e as well as traditional crafts in general, Gonroku Matsuda (1896-1986) used his modern sense and creativity to create dignified, elegant lacquerware based on his studies into classical art and lacquerwork. This exhibition presents 60 masterpieces embodying the essence of Matsuda’s art, along with related classical art pieces, classical lacquerworks of his studies and restoration, important works of Shisui Rokkaku, Matsuda’s teacher, as well as those of successors to his art.

Mineo Okabe
Urn with woven cord patterns, beni-shino type
1956
Private Collection

March 6 – May 20, 2007

Mineo Okabe (1919-1990) was a ceramic artist of striking individuality who maintained a proud independence in postwar Japanese ceramics. Although he attracted wide attention in the 1950s with his works using straw-rope patterns intensively applied to wildly shaped, thick earthen bodies, Okabe later changed his style radically to create tranquil celadon ware using traditional techniques. This is the first large-scale retrospective offering an extensive view of Okabe’s interesting career.