The 51st “Open Lecture”
Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems held a two-day open lecture on November 2nd and 3rd in the seminar room of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP). Every autumn, TNRICP invites people from the general public to attend presentations given by its researchers and invited outside lecturers on the results of research that they conduct on a daily basis. This year, it was the 51st open lecture. This program is not only held as part of the Lecture Series of the Ueno no Yama Cultural Zone Festival organized by Taito Ward but is also associated with Classics Day on November 1st, 2017.
This year’s lectures covered four topics: “Japanese paintings that were brought overseas ― Through introduction of the folding screen, “Merry making on kamo river beach at shijo” in a collection at the Grassi Museum for Ethnology in Leipzig, Germany” (Tomoko EMURA, Head of Archives Section, TNRICP); “Human bodies depicted as this impure world― Illness and dead bodies depicted in Japanese medieval paintings” (Satomi YAMAMOTO, Professor of Kyoritsu Women’s University); “Loquats painting copied from nature― Tanyu KANO and reproduction in Edo Period” (Mayumi ONO, Senior Researcher, TNRICP); and “Great poets making tofu baked and coated with miso ― Paintings of Great Poets by Jakuchu ITO” (Miho MABUCHI, Associate Professor of Kobe City University of Foreign Studies). The first two lectures were given on the 2nd and the latter two lectures on the 3rd. The audience on both days totaled 225 people and, according to the results of the questionnaire survey, nearly 90% of the audience responded “satisfied” or “almost satisfied.” Thus, the open lecture received favorable reactions.