Thursday, February 13, 2014

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 東京都美術館

 The poster for Masterpieces of Nihonga

 Last week I visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum to view the Masterpieces of Nihonga exhibition, currently on view. The show lived up to the name- it truly was an exhibition of masterworks. The scope was broad, covering nihonga (neo-traditional Japanese painting) from its innovation in the 19th century up to today. It was interesting to see how the 19th century works, those which defined the genre, differed from those that are being created today. The term nihonga is relatively slippery- the literal translation is Japanese painting- and vague in nature. Generally it refers to painting using traditional materials such as mineral pigments and natural brushes, and with a traditional subject matter, such as landscape or Buddhist deities. These parameters aren't always the case though, and problems arise when considering where or by whom a work was made, and the flexibility of subject matter. The term was used in the 19th century for the revival of traditional painting, and contrasted with yoga, or Western-style painting, which was done in oil and using subject matter common to the European tradition. These categories have always been blurred though, and as with most things, are best seen on a spectrum. In any case, it was nice to see how the exhibition coordinators dealt with this ambiguity, and what types of works they included.
 
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

In addition to the nihonga show, the museum was hosting a bonsai competition and small exhibitions of artworks by Tokyo citizens, most of which were calligraphy.
 
My Sky Hole, Inoue Bukichi, 1985

The plaza of the museum housed a work titled "My Sky Hole" by Inoue Bukichi. The work (above and below) consisted of a large mirrored ball set atop a steel plate. On one side at the top there was a hole in the ball, which made it appear in the reflection that there was a hole in the sky.
 
My Sky Hole, Inoue Bukichi, 1985  

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