Yearly Calendar 2019
Crafts Gallery Yearly Calender 2019 (April, 2019 – March, 2020)
Crafts Gallery
The Crafts Gallery holds in each exhibition period either a special or collection exhibition using all the rooms.
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.
Where design is found from the Museum Collection
May 21 – June 30, 2019
＊Closed on: Mondays
Beginning with the Arts and Crafts Movement in the U.K., the styles and ideas of modern design spread from Europe to the rest of the world. Interacting with various genres of art, they have given rise to new creative challenges. Pieces of furniture and articles for daily use that are used by many people for many years after their first appearance on the market are called “long-life design.” They help us think about the relationship between our life and time. This exhibition will approach design from various angles with boundaries between countries, domains and time as the pivots.
Crafts Gallery for Kids×Adults (tentative title) from the Museum Collection
A boy nine-year old appreciating Onagi Yoichi's "Red Glove" (1976), from "Body illustrated reference book" (2013)
July 13 – September 1, 2019
＊Closed on: Mondays (except July 15, August 12, 2019); July 16, August 13, 2019
Our gallery held an exhibition titled The Crafts Gallery for Kids for the first time in the summer of 2005. During the summer vacation, we hoped children would be able to learn, in an enjoyable manner, about honorable Japanese crafts that are deeply tied to our everyday feelings. Their reactions were, however, far beyond adult’s expectation, and keenly pointed to the essence of crafts. How do you see Onagi Yoichi’s Red Glove about which a nine-year old said “The big thing looked very lovely and beautiful”? This exhibition will look back on the fifteen-year path of craft appreciation that we have followed with children.
Japanese Bamboo Art from New York: The Abbey Collection Gifts to The Metropolitan Museum of Art
September 13 -December 8, 2019
＊Closed on: Mondays (except September 16, 23, October 14, November 4, 2019); September 17, 24, October,15, November 5, 2019
Along with the international reappreciation of Japanese crafts, the beauty and expressive form of bamboo work is attracting global attention. Among others, the collection of Japanese bamboo work built by Mr. and Mrs. Abbey in New York is known as the Abbey Collection. The 2017 exhibition commemorating the promised donation of the collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art attracted more than 400 thousand visitors and public attention. The first “homecoming” exhibition in Japan featuring the Abbey Collection, this show will present seventy pieces selected from the collection along with modern masterpieces from the Crafts Gallery’s collection to illustrate the charm of free formal beauty of bamboo work.
The Abbey Collection, “Promised Gift of Diane and Arthur Abbey to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
20 passions for Crafting Crafts from the Museum Collection
HIRATA Goyo, Taira-no-Koremori, 1936
December 20, 2019- March 8, 2020
＊Closed on: Mondays (except January 13, February 24, 2020); December 28, 2019 – January 1, 2020; January 14, February 25, 2020
Centering around 20 passions, this exhibition will explore the one-hundred-year history of Japanese crafts. For instance, this doll by Hirata Goyo has clean-cut features that thrill us. It demonstrates not just the craftsman’s technical mastery but also his “belief as an artist”. At the time he produced this work, there were arguments for and against Goyo’s style. With his word “belief,” Goyo declared his determination against the criticisms. In the depths of the history lurk such passions. Why not come and enjoy exciting experiences at the Crafts Gallery? This will be the last Tokyo exhibition of the Crafts Gallery. Don’t miss it!
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
