One specific, small exhibition: "Artists around Mannequin Factory Nanasai - Experiments of Art + Design + Crafts in 1946-1980". Nanasai Kogei was a mannequin company established shortly after WWII that assembled a large group of sculptors, painters and craftspeople, and one of its founders, Ryokichi Murai, was responsible for two very striking aluminium sculptures on display here, a mannequin for the exhibition 'Nanasai of Today '67' and one called 'Rose' for the equivalent 1976 exhibition. Bonus points to the museum for posing mannequins throughout the building, including one sitting in the reception desk wearing a 'staff member' badge.
And elsewhere, several similarly small themed selections from the museum's collection.
Drawings by Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka - as billed.
Before/After a Feverish Era in Japanese-style Painting. The 'feverish era' being the 1950s and 1960s when Art Informel was highly influential in Japan - the subject of a separate exhibition that I'd missed. These were a collection of fairly miscellaneous other paintings from the 1920s through to the 1980s. Best: Takashi Asada's "Mountain Landscape in the Summer" (1948), Hisao Domoto's "Chartres on Sunday" (1953-4) and Taika Inohara's abstract-leaning "Carp" (1977).
Minamata - black and white photos by W Eugene and Aileen Mioko Smith documenting the effects of mercury pollution from industrial activity in the town on Minamata in the 1970s. Sobering topic, but the photos didn't affect me much.
A Refreshing Way to Enjoy Summer: Modern Glassworks and Textiles. Glass has appealed to me for as long as I can remember and some of these were very nice to look at, notably Joel Linard, Asa Brandt and Dominick Labino.
Ceramics of Celadon Blue and Bluish White. A descriptive title! Basically this is my favourite colour or very close on the spectrum to it, so I liked this. Stand out (from the whole museum actually) was the "Little Clay Images: Twenty Pieces of the Sea" set by Osamu Suzuki (1987), the individual porcelain pieces given suggestive and apt names like "Spring Wave", "Gull" and "Sunlit Sea".
Paintings in the Taisho Era (1912-1926). All-sorts from that period. Favourite: "Avila" by Kunitaro Suda (1920), "Whipping" by Eitaro Ishigaki (1925 - dramatic and bold) and "Sea-side Village" by Seifu Tsuda (1912).
And elsewhere, several similarly small themed selections from the museum's collection.
Drawings by Klimt, Schiele and Kokoschka - as billed.
Before/After a Feverish Era in Japanese-style Painting. The 'feverish era' being the 1950s and 1960s when Art Informel was highly influential in Japan - the subject of a separate exhibition that I'd missed. These were a collection of fairly miscellaneous other paintings from the 1920s through to the 1980s. Best: Takashi Asada's "Mountain Landscape in the Summer" (1948), Hisao Domoto's "Chartres on Sunday" (1953-4) and Taika Inohara's abstract-leaning "Carp" (1977).
Minamata - black and white photos by W Eugene and Aileen Mioko Smith documenting the effects of mercury pollution from industrial activity in the town on Minamata in the 1970s. Sobering topic, but the photos didn't affect me much.
A Refreshing Way to Enjoy Summer: Modern Glassworks and Textiles. Glass has appealed to me for as long as I can remember and some of these were very nice to look at, notably Joel Linard, Asa Brandt and Dominick Labino.
Ceramics of Celadon Blue and Bluish White. A descriptive title! Basically this is my favourite colour or very close on the spectrum to it, so I liked this. Stand out (from the whole museum actually) was the "Little Clay Images: Twenty Pieces of the Sea" set by Osamu Suzuki (1987), the individual porcelain pieces given suggestive and apt names like "Spring Wave", "Gull" and "Sunlit Sea".
Paintings in the Taisho Era (1912-1926). All-sorts from that period. Favourite: "Avila" by Kunitaro Suda (1920), "Whipping" by Eitaro Ishigaki (1925 - dramatic and bold) and "Sea-side Village" by Seifu Tsuda (1912).
