Publication of the database “Materials Donated by SASAKI Shigeo’s Contemporary Art Document Center (Artists’ Files)”
As part of the research project “Research and Compilation of Materials on Modern and Contemporary Art,” we are pleased to announce that the database “Materials Donated by SASAKI Shigeo’s Contemporary Art Document Center (Artists’ Files)” became available on our website on September 25, 2024.
SASAKI Shigeo (1931-2024) began collecting art works in the 1960s while working at a city bank, and also collected materials on contemporary art from the mid-war period onward. After his retirement, he opened the Contemporary Art Document Center in 1994 in a room of his house, where he provided museum curators and researchers with access to his collection of various materials to support their research and other activities. As an art collector, he visited galleries in Tokyo and had a network of gallery owners and other collectors. One of the characteristics of this collection is that it was actively collected with the archival function of the Contemporary Art Document Center.
In 1997, the Institute received approximately 450 cardboard boxes of materials from this group to supplement the collection of materials in the field of contemporary art, which it had not been able to fully collect until then. Since then, we had received regular deliveries of materials until 2018. We had published a “CD of the Catalogue of SASAKI Shigeo’s Contemporary Art Document Center” (2002) and a “CD of Gallery-related Data of the Catalogue of Materials Donated by SASAKI Shigeo’s Contemporary Art Document Center” (2006), and have provided other information to researchers as well. The release of this database reflects the latest state of organization and allows us to provide this information via our website for more convenient access.
The research project “Research and Compilation of Materials on Modern and Contemporary Art” is intended to enable the conduction of research on modern and contemporary Japanese art works and materials, to promote research exchange based on this research, and to establish an efficient collection and publication framework for materials related to contemporary art. We hope that you will make use of these documents, which are now available in the library, as evidence for solving problems encountered in research on cultural properties, including contemporary art, and as an opportunity to conduct new research in various fields.
◆Database “Materials donated by the Contemporary Art Resource Center led by SASAKI Shigeo (artist files)
https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/sasaki_artistfile
◆ Library Visitor’s Guide
https://www.tobunken.go.jp/joho/english/library/library_e.html