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Arts of East and West from World Expositions
- 1855-1900: Paris, Vienna, and Chicago -

  • Image of "Bowl with brown glaze and figures of crabs by Miyagawa Kozan I Important Cultural Property TNM Collection"

    Bowl with brown glaze and figures of crabs
    by Miyagawa Kozan I
    Important Cultural Property
    TNM Collection

    Japanese Archaeology and Special Exhibition (Heiseikan) Special Exhibition Galleries
    July 6, 2004 (Tue) - August 29, 2004 (Sun)

    Traveling back through time, the stage of this special exhibition is the era remembered as that of "World Expositions," introducing the age through Japanese works of decorative art, stirring up the West with admiration and astonishment, as well as through Western art, grandly staged at several Paris Expositions.

 General Information
Period Tuesday, July 6 - Sunday, August 29, 2004
Venue Tokyo National Museum (Ueno Park)
Hours 9:30-17:00; open until 20:00 on Fridays during the exhibition; open until 18:00 on Saturdays, Sundays, and Bank holidays (Last entry is 30 minutes before the closing time.)
Closed Monday, July 12, 2004
Admissions Adults: 1300(950)yen
University Students: 900(510)yen
High School Students: 800(450)yen
Jr. High & Elementary School Students: Free
*  Prices shown in ( ) indicate advances discount/ group (more than 20 people) tickets.
*  Ticket price includes admission to regular exhibitions.
*  Persons with disabilities are allowed free entry with one accompanying guest. Valid identification requested upon entry
Access 10 minutes walk from JR Ueno Station (Park exit) and Uguisudani Station
15 minutes walk from Keisei Ueno Station and Tokyo Metro Ueno Station.
General Inquiries Tokyo National Museum
TEL. +81-3-3822-1111
Organizers Tokyo National Museum, NHK, NHK Promotions, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc., Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Nagoya City Museum
Co-organizer Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition
With the Assistance of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Agency for Cultural Affairs
With the Sponsorship of Oji Paper Group, OBAYASHI CORPORATION, TOPPAN PRINTING CO.,LTD., TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION
With the Cooperation of DENTSU INC., KAWASHIMA TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS LTD., Japan Airlines, Austrian Airlines
Other venues
Osaka
* Osaka Municipal Museum of Art : October 5 to November 28, 2004

Nagoya
* Nagoya City Museum : January 5 to March 6, 2005
Related Events
*All events will be held in Japanese only without assistance in any other languages.
Summer Seminar "Art of World Expositions"  [July 17(Sat.) - July 18(Sun.), 2004 ,two-days public seminar]
  *Day 1: July 17(Sat.), 2004, 13:15 -16:30
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum
Session 1: "ART" of Japan and the World Expositions during Meiji era
 Lecturer: Mr. Okuma Toshiyuki, Chief Curator, Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan
Session2: "Japanese Cloisonné in the World Expositions
 Lecturer: Mr. Ogawa Mikio, Curator, Nagoya City Museum

*Day 2: July 18(Sun.), 2004, 13:00 -16:10
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum
Session 1: "Two Phases of Meiji Lacquer Ware - from Industry to Art, Art to Industry -
 Lecturer: Ms Doi Kumiko, Curator, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art
Session 2: "Metal works in the World Expositions
 Lecturer: Ms Yokomizo Hiroko, Associate Professor, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
  Memorial lectures
"Western Art in the World Expositions, mainly about the Paris Expositions"
July 24 (Sat.), 2004, 13:30 -15:00
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum, Lecturer: Mr. Takahashi Akiya, Art historian
"World expositions and Japanese decorative art - The East met the West - "
August 14 (Sat.), 2004, 13:30 -15:00
Heiseikan Auditorium, Tokyo National Museum, Lecturer: Ito Yoshiaki, Curator of Japanese Ceramics
About the Exhibition and Highlights
I. World Expositions and Japanese Decorative Arts
1. World Expositions : East meets West
World expositions were the very place where the West encountered the East. It was with astonishment that the West embraced the decorative art of Japan, an art born out of technical fineness. Japan itself eagerly consumed the technology and new styles of the West. The export decorative art of the Meiji period is introduced here as an individual entity first inspired by the encounter with the West, sure to transmit the brimming energy of the Meiji period. However, the other aspect introduced at the expositions, which astounded the West, was Japanese decorative art as the antique art of Japan. The section "History of Decorative Art Exported" is dedicated to this aspect.

Photograph©1988 The Metropolitan Museum of Art		   Cloisonné Kankodori O-daiko drum
Artist unknown

Meiji period,ca. 1873
Total Height: 158.0cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889 (89.4.1236)
Exhibited at the Vienna Exposition, 1873 (Weltausstellung 1873 Wien)
 
  Important Cultural Property
Footed Bowl with crabs in brown glaze
by MIYAGAWA, Kozan

Meiji period, 1881
H: 37.0cm , Mouth D: 19.6*39.7cm , Foot D: 17.1cm
Tokyo National Museum
Exhibited at the Second National Industrial Exposition of Japan, 1881

©MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna		   Maki-e Panel in the shape of a fan with design of "Autumnal Grass and Moon"
by IKEDA, Taishin

Meiji period, 1873
L: 39cm, W:73.0cm
MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna
Exhibited at the Vienna Exposition, 1873 (Weltausstellung 1873 Wien)
 

Philadelphia Museum of Art, The George W. B. Taylor Collection, Bequest of Mrs. Mary E.Taylor, 1917		   Large ornamental incense burner with auspicious design of Chinese children performing lion dance
Artist unknown

Meiji period,ca. 1876
H: 186.0cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, The George W. B. Taylor Collection, bequest of Mrs. Mary E. Taylor, 1917
Exhibited at the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia, 1876
 
 
2. Making Decorative Art part of Fine Art : the Road to the 20 Century of Decorative Arts
The passing of time had unquestionably changed the role of decorative art. From the biggest export article, it took on the role of "Japanese decorative art as art" towards the end of the 19th century. The focus here is on the world exposition in Chicago, 1893, when Japan proclaimed decorative art as its "art". The last exposition of the 19th century, the Paris exposition, is renowned as the exposition of Art Nouveau. At this exposition, Japanese decorative art too, amplified its evolution and diversification towards the 20th century. Several compact themes in the special exhibition, such as the "Kawajima Jinbei and the Liege Chamber," draw attention to the diversity of the subject.
  Large cloisonne incense burner with design of cherry trees, flocking chickens, and rising sun
by HAYASHI, Kihyoe, et.al.

Meiji period, 1893
H: 216.0cm
Art Promotion Co.
Exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893
 
  Buddhist statue of Vajrapani
by OKAZAKI, Sessei

Meiji period, 1893
H. of statue: 255.0cm, H. including pedestal: 320.5cm
Aizu Museum, Waseda University
Exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893
 

©The Field Museum, #A112796c
http://www.fieldmuseum.org		   Tapestry with motif of the Nikko Festival
by KAWASHIMA, Jinbe II

Meiji Period, 1893
381 x 686 cm
The Field Museum, Chicago
Exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, year
 
 
II. Western Art at the World Expositions  
Art was the third main focus as well as a hot topic of conversation at the world expositions, after industry and technology. The world expositions fundamentally had the futuristic concept of a "Gala of Progression". Yet the first Paris Exposition held in 1855 had turned rather into a grand demonstration of Frances own art, with the simultaneous opening of the "Salon". Aside from the official art exhibitions there were various venues such as national pavilions where artists exerted their ingenuity to compete. In this environment the border between art and industry gradually began to fade, until the full blossoming of the industrial art of Art Nouveau at the1900 Paris Exposition.

©photo RMN		   Table Setting "Le Jeu de l'echarpe"
by Leonard Agathon

H: 42cm
Musee National de la Ceramique, Sevres
Exhibited at the Paris Exposition, 1900 (Exposition Universelle)
 

©photo RMN / Hervé Lewandowski / distributed by Sekai Bunka Photo		   The Birth of Venus (La Naissance de Venus)
Alexandre Cabanel

132.1 x 228.6cm
Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
Exhibited at the Paris Exposition, 1867
 

©photo RMN / Bulloz / distributed by Sekai Bunka Photo		   The Central Dome at the Universal Exposition, 1889 (La Dome central a l'Exposition universelle de 1889)

198cm x 164.5cm
Musée Carnavalet , Paris, France
 
Exhibitions