Yearly Calendar 2018
Crafts Gallery Yearly Calender 2018 (April, 2018 – March, 2019)
Crafts Gallery
The Crafts Gallery holds in each exhibition period either a special or collection exhibition using all the rooms.
Master Hands in the Meiji Period The Crafts Gallery's 40th Anniversary Exhibition―from the museum collection
March 1 – May 27, 2018
＊Closed on: Mondays (except March 26, April 2 and 30, 2018)
Suzuki Chokichi (1848–1919) produced Twelve Hawks for the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, using the best technology available at the time. It is one of the most important pieces of metalwork from the Meiji period (1868–1912). This exhibition features this work after three years of restoration. The ornamental cloth on the perch that had been lost after the Exposition has been reproduced and revived the original brilliant colors. This exhibition presents 100 works including other masterpieces from the Museum collection.
Crafts Gallery for Kids x Adults: Heat and Pressure from the Museum Collection
June 19 -August 26, 2018
＊Closed on: Mondays (except July 16, 2018); July 17, 2018
We live our lives—on everyday and special occasions—with craft objects. Just think of your favorite tea cup. Blowing on the steam rising from it as you sip your tea is soothing, and the cup’s familiar texture helps create a relaxing moment. It’s such a comfortable object, part of your habitual environment. But that cup, which has become so familiar, so taken for granted, has gone through a process of being heated to a temperature tens of times hotter than the tea you pour into it. And being fired in the kiln and the forming process that proceeded it involved resisting pressure and at the same time incorporating that force in the cup’s body. Now think about picking up that cup, conscious of the heat and pressure that have formed it. You may see the cup you thought you knew so well somewhat differently.Indifferent in the presence of these objects? Not now—wow, they are dramatic! Heat and pressure are our starting points for an intense but very cool look at crafts.
Sweden-Japan 150th Anniversary
Ingegerd Råman
September 14 -December 9, 2018
＊Closed on: Mondays (except September 17, 24, October 8, 2018); September 18, 25, October,9, 2018
Ingegerd Råman (b. 1943 in Stockholm) is one of Sweden’s most renowned designers as well as a ceramic artist. While extremely simple in their colors and shapes, her glass and ceramic tableware features consistent, noble beauty and reveals the designer’s sincere viewpoint as a user.In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sweden and Japan, this is her first major solo exhibition in Japan that introduces her diverse activities centering on important works selected by the designer herself. From her work done in Japan, a country of special interest for her, including participation in the 2016/ project that aims to restore Arita ware, to her designs for IKEA, and collaboration projects with Swedish architects, this exhibition will provide an opportunity to learn about Råman’s fertile thought that connects design to daily life.
Masterpieces of Modern Crafts from the Museum Collection ―Special Display: Modern Tea Caddies
December 21, 2018- February 11, 2019
＊Closed on: Mondays (except December 24, 2018, January 14 and February 11, 2019); December 25, December 25, 2018 – January 1, 2019; January 15, 2019
Natsume (tea caddy) is one of familiar tea utensils because of its small size that fits in your palm, lightness, and pleasant feel. Tea caddies in various shapes have been produced to satisfy different tastes of many masters of tea ceremony.On the other hand, some excellent forms have been selected, refined and made into models, such as the Rikyu style, with strict restrictions on sizes and shapes. In spite of the limitations, many modern crafts artists work on natsume as if charmed by the challenge of marrying function with beauty.This exhibition features natsume produced by modern lacquer artists and wood artists, as well as one hundred masterpieces of modern crafts illustrating the rivalry between function and beauty.
Bizen: From Earth and Fire, Exquisite Forms
February 22 – May 6, 2019
＊Closed on: Mondays (except March 25, April 1 and 29, May 6, 2019)
Bizen ware has been popular for many years in Japan as primitive, simple unglazed ceramics shaped out of clay and flames. Distinctive appearances created during firing in wood-fired kilns are the feature unique to Bizen ware, such as yohen (accidental coloring), hidasuki (red sash), botamochi (rice cake dumpling covered with bean paste), goma (sesame) and sangiri (framed by crosspieces). This exhibition presents a broad range of Bizen ware from masterpieces of ko-Bizen (ancient Bizen) that were praised by masters of the tea ceremony in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1600), to works by modern ceramists enchanted by ko-Bizen, and those by younger artisans aiming to build on the tradition and establish today’s style, including works by holders of Important Intangible Cultural Properties. The exhibition will explore the charm of Bizen ware that is simple but capable of producing a wide variety of expression.
Works of Living National Treasures and Great Masters
This section presents works of bearers of important intangible cultural property (Living National Treasures), and other leading artists and designers at home and abroad. In line with the theme of the current exhibition or season, the program introduces works demonstrating charm of materials or depth of techniques, including ceramics, lacquerware and textiles.
ART MUSEUM Gallery 4
Sugiura Hisui: Image Collector
SUGIURA, Hisui, Mitsukoshi (department store): Ginza Branch Open on April 10, 1930,
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The First Period: February 9 – April 7, 2019
The Second Period: April 10 – May 26, 2019
＊Some works will be replaced during the exhibition period.
＊Closed on: Mondays (except February 11, March 25, April 1, 29 and May 6, 2019); February 12, April 9 and May 7, 2019
Zuan artist Sugiura Hisui (1876-1965) took an important role in the earliest days of Japanese graphic design. He actively promoted Zuan in his publications co-authored with Watanabe Soshu (1890-1986)—“Zuan no Bigaku (Aesthetics of Zuan)” and “Jitsuyo Zuan Shiryo Taisei (Compilation of practical Zuan materials)” and was engaged in Zuan education as the first president of Tama Imperial Art School (now Tama Art University) founded in 1935.
In addition to Suigiura’s representative works such as posters for Mitsukoshi department store and various cover designs for books and magazines, the exhibition will showcase materials previously owned by Sugiura including French illustrated newspaper “L’Illustration”, American graph magazine “LIFE”, and his scrapbooks for the first time so as to reveal another dimension of Sugiura’s creative practice as an image collector.
Images collected by Sugiura Hisui, date unknown,
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Scrapbooks by Sugiura Hisui, date unknown,
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
