Thematic Exhibition
Records and Evaluation of Japanese Art:
Trajectory of Art History Research Viewed through Scholars’ Notebooks

This exhibition in the Tokyo National Museum shows the research notebooks by Imaizumi Yūsaku (1850-1931), Hirako Takurei (1877-1911) and Tanaka Ichimatsu (1895-1983) from the collection of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and also the research notebooks by Doi Tsugiyoshi (1906-91) from the collection of the Kyoto Institute of Technology. Some notebooks by Tanaka Ichimatsu and Doi Tsugiyoshi had been showcased in the exhibition “Making notes of Japanese Art History―The research notes of Aimi Kōu, Tanaka Ichimatsu, and Doi Tsugiyoshi” that was jointly held by Kosetsu Memorial Museum, Jissen Women’s University, and the Museum and Archives of Kyoto Institute of Technology in 2018. This time, the notebooks are displayed together with two artworks from the collection of the Tokyo National Museum.
In the past days when one could not take a picture easily, the principles of an art research were looking at artworks closely by one’s own eyes and writing the information down by hand. Please notice the accuracy and richness of the analogue records comparable to those in this digital age. You might discover a new aspect of the artwork through the research notebooks by the art historians.