Cyber Gothic © Ayami Nishimura, RankinOctober is a trying time for the art world as the optic oxygen of the city is taken up by garish displays of Halloween pumpkins and witches, but the art institutions of our mighty metropolis are bravely fighting back against "The Orange Tide," with a range of top class exhibitions to remind us of why Tokyo is the undisputed global art capital. So, here are Tokyo Metropolis's picks for the best art shows to see in October. This month we are recommending THREE Edo-period art exhibition, a collection of "restful" tea bowls, French painting (again), Bourbon bling, modernist design, and Swedish fabrics.
Katsushika Hokusai, Honmoku off the Coast of Kanagawa, The Sumida Hokusai Museum (1st term until 18th October)SUMIDA HOKUSAI MUSEUM 10th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
Every foreign tourist who comes to Japan probably wants to see the art of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). One of the best places to scratch this itch is undoubtedly the SUMIDA HOKUSAI MUSEUM, founded ten years ago. In this period, Japan has risen to one of the top-ten global tourist destinations, so there was an element of prescience in its opening in 2016. To celebrate its first decade the museum is now holding "THE SUMIDA HOKUSAI MUSEUM’s Best—The Scenery on Both Banks of the Sumida River Picture Scroll and Other Masterpieces," which is quite simply an exhibition of its finest works! Highlights include "The Scenery on Both Banks of the Sumida River," a seven-meter-long picture scroll that is the longest extant work by Hokusai, and many other works to provide a comprehensive view of Japan's most multi-faceted artistic genius, who not only excelled at ukiyo-e prints but also in brushworks. Note: the museum will be closed on the 19th & 20th when most of the exhibits will be changed.
Now – 23rd November
PRICE: ¥1500
"Asakusa Rice Fields and the Torinoichi Festival" from the Series One Hundred Famous Views of EdoHIROSHIGE: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON EDO JAPAN
If there is one name that can go head-to-head with Hokusai in the pantheon of Japanese art, it is Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). It is therefore helpful that the monumental TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM in Ueno has chosen to host its first exhibition on Hiroshige at the same time as the show mentioned above. "Hiroshige: New Perspectives on Edo Japan" commemorates the recent gift to the TNM of 1,025 ukiyo-e prints from the collection of Uchiyama Susumu (1893–1980). Both the works of Hokusai and Hiroshige represent the charismatic world of Edo Japan in rather precise linear form, so one could be forgiven for mixing them up, but what separates Hiroshige's art is that he presents a more tender sense of this world, capturing mood and conveying a sense of "being there." You could call his artistic sensibility more "ying" to Hokusai's more dramatic and eye-catching "yang."
Now - 20th December
PRICE: ¥1,500
Katsushika Ōi “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” (1st and 2nd term)THE LINEAGE OF NIGHTSCAPES
The ŌTA MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF ART is one of those places that used to make visitors take off their shoes and replace them with tiny slippers, but all that is in the past and footwear is now OK. It is also one of the best places in Tokyo to see ukiyo-e prints. Their next exhibition "Katsushika Ōi 'Night Scene in the Yoshiwara' -- The Lineage of Nightscapes" namechecks Hokusai's daughter, who clearly followed in her father's footsteps. Her "Night Scene in the Yoshiwara," which makes marvellous use of the chiaroscuro caused by the brothel cages in the old red light district, is shown for the first time in three years. But Ōi is just one of several artists at this show of nightscapes, which is of course a suitable subject for an exhibition that stretches into the dark days of December. Other names include Utagawa Kunisada, Kobayashi Kiyochika, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Kobayasi Eijirō, whose "A High Bridge by Night" was clearly a big influence on the American painter James McNeill Whistler.
Oct 6th – 6th Dec
PRICE: ¥1,200
Tea bowl with phoenix design in kindande, overglaze enamels and gold on a red ground, Tenmoku-type, Eiraku Wazen, Meiji period, 19th C., Mitsui Memorial Museum100 SELECTED TEA BOWLS
One of the central nodes of Japanese culture is its rich tradition of tea drinking. This is not always the easiest thing to get a handle on, especially as Japanese tea cups don't even have handles! But the MITSUI MEMORIAL MUSEUM's exhibition, subtitled "From National Treasures to Handmade Tea Bowls," offers an excellent introduction to this arcane world, with six chapters presenting Chinese and Korean tea bowls, alongside Japanese raku and eiraku tea bowls. The exhibition features several official "National Treasures" and quite a few "Important Cultural Properties." The Mitsui family's collection of tea bowls was accumulated over more than 300 years and reflects the cultured sensibility that has always typified Japan. Recommended for those seeking to deepen their appreciation of Japan's unique civilisation.
Now – 23rd Nov
PRICE: ¥1,200
"Cheval à Marseille" (1916), oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, photo F. Deval © Mairie de Bordeaux,ALBERT MARQUET: A RETROSPECTIVE
Over the years that I have covered art shows in Tokyo, few institutions have equalled the track record of the SOMPO MUSEUM OF ART for putting on serious exhibitions of Western art. The latest is a major retrospective of Albert Marquet (1875-1947), who started out as a close associate of Matisse in the Fauvist movement, which experimented with the brighter colours mainly produced by German chemists at the turn of the century. Marquet then veered towards a more muted, subtle, and reflective tone, ideally adapted to depictions of waterside scenes. These included views of the Seine seen from his Paris home and the ports and beaches he encountered on his travels in southern France and Algeria. The show brings together around 90 works, from the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux and other French museums, as well as leading Japanese museums and private collections, and is the first solo exhibition of Marquet's work here since the early 1990s!
Now – 13th Dec
PRICE: ¥2o00
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 invocation of a glamorous past that somehow lingered on 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 the ultimate fashion icon in the tragic queen.
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 skilled painter, she quickly moved into reliefs and then more widely architectural art. She quickly rose to design interiors and objet d'art 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 sleek, inorganic materials (acrylics, aluminium, glass, etc.) that interact with light through reflection, transmission, refraction, and fluctuation to create an ever-changing experience. With the passage of time this has also become a delightful 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 Setagaya? Because the museum is set in a big, leafy park, so it kind of looks like Sweden!
Now - 15th November
PRICE: ¥1,400
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