Summer exhibitions in Tokyo in 2011

The rainy season is over and it is scorching hot in the daytime. On the streets, you can see many women putting up UV ray protection parasols. Since almost all the parasols, ( even one-coin<500 yen >ones )，have UV protection label, I suspect the UV coating on some of them may be useless. 

In spite of the sweltering heat, a lot of people are visiting museums in Tokyo from around the country, for a lot of fascinating exhibitions are at present being held. Let me introduce to you some of them that I was really impressed with.  

Of the exhibitions, the most impressive was Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art in Washington. I was very lucky to be able to see at the National Art Center of Tokyo the finest collections of this gallery.

The superb works of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin and other masters of the movements were on exhibit.


(left: poster)

Gift of Horace Havemeyer in memory of his mother, Louisine W. Havemeyer, Edouard Manet, 1873, the National Gallery of Art, Washington







 

 The Dancer, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874
the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Roses, Vincent van Gogh, 1890

the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Boy in a Red Waistcoat, Paul Cézanne, 1888-1890

the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Oarsmen at Chatou, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879

the National Gallery of Art, Washington 

 

My daughter, who went to see it with me, blurted out something wild about Impressionists after seeing the exhibition.

 

"Mom, I now understand what Impressionists were."

"Great. And what were they?"

"They were painters who lived by rivers and painted them.”

"That’s it?”

Lived by rivers? I suddenly realized that I was utterly ignorant of where those great impressionist painters actually lived when they painted their masterpieces. It looked like the latter half of her remark had some truth, for many fantastic paintings of riverscapes and seascapes were on display.


She then continued. “But Monet was different.”

"How was he different?”


"He lived by a pond, a water lily pond.”

WOW! She was so right about Giverny. In fact, Giverny sits on the right Bank of  the River Seine.  Unfortunately, she has never seen Monet’s beautiful  paintings of the Seine.

The Japanese Footbridge, Claude Monet, 1899, the National Gallery of Art, Washington

The National Art Center of Tokyo

Marble statue of a discus thrower (diskobolos), British Museum

"This marble statue is one of several copies of a lost bronze original of the fifth century BC which was attributed to the sculptor Myron (flourished about 470-440 BC)." 　＊１

 

Next, at the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, I saw "The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece- from the British Museum” exhibition, and I found it very interesting. Though there were many wonderful sculptures, including the Diskobolos (the discus thrower), I was really fascinated by "Marble Figurine of a Woman".   

This figurine was excavated from the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. It dates back to 2600-2400 BC. Its head has no features　apart from a nose. The figurine without a mouth and eyes looked very modern and stylish like an abstract art piece due to its simplicity. I love her! 

←Marble Figurine of a Woman, The British Museum

The National Museum of Western Art

Lastly, when I went to see a Sharaku Exhibition at Tokyo National Museum in Ueno, I found out that the Museum had another small exhibition about the Haniwa, so I decided to see it.  The Haniwa are terracotta clay figures that were made for ritual/funeral use during the Kofun period (3rd～6th centuries AD). Haniwa figures often carry a demure smile. Sometimes, their smile is referred to as an Archaic smile.  The Archaic smile however, originally, characteristically appeared on the faces of Greek statues of the Archaic period (650–480 BC). Of the Haniwa figures, my favorite is this guy. ↓  I always feel relaxed and soothed when looking at his peaceful and gentle face. 

Haniwa warrior, Kofun period, 6th century
Tokyo National Museum ↑　↓

Various types of Hibiscus and oleander flowers are now in full bloom.  

A Paul Klee exhibition and an Utagawa Kuniyoshi exhibition are also at present being held. The youtube video about Klee includes some of his paintings that I saw at the MOMAT. Enjoy his poetic and musical paintings! As for Kuniyoshi, I suppose the video covers many of the exhibits that I saw at Ohta Museum.

*1 the British Museum's explanation

Related posts about Kuniyoshi:
①　My cat and cats in Ukiyo-e woodblock prints

                                                   ②　Using cat paintings to rat proof - cat painters in  Edo