Weavers of Worlds – A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern / Contemporary Art –

03-29-2019〜06-16-2019

At MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART TOKYO

Outline

This exhibition will survey the Japanese art of the past 100 years, from the 1910s to 2010s, through works mainly in the museum’s collection. Its aim–to show how the artists, by taking a discerning critical perspective, have selected strands of already established and radically new styles and techniques, and woven their own distinctive worlds. From the 1920s era of KISHIDA Ryusei to the present day, artists in each generation have studied the issues specific to their time and created works that critically examine the “circumstances of Japanese art.”

In its narrative on modern and contemporary Japanese art, the exhibition will not situate the artists in the context of a static view of history; instead it will look at the particular practice of the artist who, by selectively adopting elements, was able to arouse his subject. It will furthermore display artworks whose subject matter relates to the Kiba district where the museum is located, a community that has witnessed dramatic change these 100 years. By surveying the artistically important works that punctuate Japanese modern / contemporary art history, in galleries on all three of the museum’s floors, the exhibition will profile the history of one hundred years.

Highlights

  • For the first time, the entire special exhibition galleries on three floors will be devoted to displaying the powerfully experimental works of this museum, dating from 1910 to the present, from the perspective of their connection with the art of today
  • Japanese modern / contemporary art will be examined from the perspective of artists who selected among diverse art styles and techniques, old and new, to form a creative, critical relationship with society. From this, the path-breaking character of their artistic endeavor, taking as its subject their own predicament of creating art in Japan–a nation with a hybrid culture–will grow clear.
  • Besides selected artworks, valuable archive materials from the pre-war era will also be presented from the museum’s collection, which has evolved with changing landscape of contemporary art. They will include magazines of the Sosaku-hanga (“creative prints”) art movement from the museum library.

Quoted from Official website