Hisashi TenmyouyaIn numbers of eyeballs on artworks Tokyo is the undisputed art capital of the world, and Autumn is the undisputed art season of the year, when the bedraggled remnants of our torrid summers can once again summon their remaining strength to venture into the museums for aesthetic reasons rather than to take advantage of their fancy air-conditioning systems. So, here is Tokyo Metropolis's picks for the best shows to visit in sweet September. This month we are recommending Bourbon bling, Swedish fabrics, modernist design art, "Antarctica," post-modernist panache, and giantist hyperrealism.
Robe à la française, made in France, ca.1760–70, updated 1770–80, silk, glazed linen, V&A ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Robe à la française, made in France, ca.1760–70, updated 1770–80, silk, glazed linen, V&A ©Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonMARIE ANTOINETTE STYLE
Since she offered everybody cake and lost her head, the world has had an undying fascination for the Austrian-born French Queen, whose sad demise under the revolutionary guillotine signalled the transition from the glamour of the ancien régime to the drab world of modernity with its timetables and spreadsheets. This was the secret behind the success of the exhibition held last year at London's V&A and now touring the globe. The YOKOHAMA MUSEUM OF ART is a natural port of call. With artworks, furniture, and jewellery from the period. combined with the flamboyant outfits favoured by the aristocracy, the show evokes both Versailles and London's own "New Romantic" phase of the 1980s, when punk glammed up and gave us designers like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, both of whom saw in Marie Antionette the ultimate fashion icon.
Now – 23rd Nov
PRICE: ¥2,500
Lighting Sculpture: Auspicious Clouds, 1973, crystal glass, ball chain, RIHGA Royal Hotel, Osaka, Vignette Collection, Photo: Kuniharu SakumotoTADA MINAMI―STILL, SHIMMERING LIGHT
There is an interesting "echo" of the Marie Antoinette exhibition at Tokyo's MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, where their big show focuses on the work of design artist Minami Tada (1924-2014). Starting out as a painter, she quickly moved into architectural art, and quickly graduated to designing interiors and items for "elite spaces," including the Imperial Palace and the Imperial Hotel. But, unlike the art of the Bourbon court, her emphasis was much more on using inorganic materials (acrylic, aluminium, glass, etc.) that interact with light through reflection, transmission, refraction, and fluctuation to create an ever-changing experience and which are now the epitome of a retro-futuristic aesthetic.
Now - 6th Dec
Now - 6th Dec
PRICE: ¥1,600
Anna-Lena Emdén, Sommarlov (Summer Vacation), n.d., Collection of Sara AxteliusTEXTILES OF SWEDEN
The affinity that Japan feels for Scandinavia (and vice versa) has often been remarked upon. Both have cultures that like to stay connected to their peasant roots, while also reaching for something much more sophisticated and abstract. The SETAGAYA MUSEUM OF ART's "Textiles of Sweden: Nature and Home Life in Scandinavian Design" is the latest chapter of this love affair, with over 200 Swedish textile works and related materials, selected from several collections of vintage textiles with the help of the Swedish Embassy. Why the Setagaya? Because the museum is set in a big, leafy park, so it kind of looks like Sweden!
September 19th - 15th November
PRICE: ¥1,400
Installation viewANTARCTICA
The annual battle with the Japanese Summer may be abating, but it is still pretty hot out there, so Tokyo's MIRAIKAN (or The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) will still be attracting visitors with mixed motives to its "Antarctica: 70th Anniversary of Antarctic Observation!!" exhibition. Focusing on an Antarctic survey from 1956, the exhibition creates a lot of (literally) cool ice-snow-and-penguin themed exhibits and "visitor experiences." These include what looks like an immersive wind tunnel and video installation that lets you experience an Antarctic blizzard. There are also cool aurora Australis and meteorite exhibits, and a hands-on real Antarctic ice experience, making this the coolest show in town!
Now – 27th September
PRICE: ¥2000
Installation view, photo: Yuya FurukawaETTORE SOTTSASS:
DESIGN BEGINS WHERE MAGIC BEGINS
DESIGN BEGINS WHERE MAGIC BEGINS
One of the best "oases of cool" in our metropolis is undoubtedly the ARTIZON. Even better, they have an exhibition that is a lot less crowded than the previous show which focused on the ever popular Monet. In its own way, this show is just as interesting, focusing on one of the giants of Post-Modernist design. While the Post-Modernism style is now generally loathed in the West, many Japanese continue to love it (possibly because of the part it plays in love hotel and pachinko parlour design!). But the style, in which Sottsass was a prime mover, also represents a true aesthetic freedom and a "licence to be radical," something that has a raw appeal in otherwise regimented societies.
READ OUR EXHIBITION REVIEW HERE.
READ OUR EXHIBITION REVIEW HERE.
Now – 4th Oct
PRICE: ¥1,200
"Mass" (2016-2017) Synthetic polymer paint on fiberglass, installation view: Ron Mueck, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2025, photo: Nam KiyongRON MUECK
One of the sure-fire ways to have artistic impact is to "GO BIG." Few artists have made more of this clever ploy than Ron Mueck, the 68-year-old Australian artist based in the UK, who is now the subject of a major show at Roppongi's MORI ART MUSEUM. What makes Mueck worthwhile as an artist, however, is that he uses this "giantist" technique to focus, in a hyper-realistic and ironically microscopic manner, on the human condition. The exhibition presents eleven works that dot the artist’s trajectory from early masterpieces to more recent works, including the skull happy "Mass" (2016-2017), a work which has obvious affinities with Japanese Buddhist and yokai art.
N0w – 23rd Sep
PRICE: ¥2300
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