| ■Tokyo National Research
Institute for Cultural Properties |
■Center for Conservation
Science |
| ■Department of Art Research,
Archives and Information Systems |
■Japan Center for
International Cooperation in Conservation |
| ■Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage |
|
A survey at the National Gallery of Victoria
Japanese artworks in collections overseas play an important role in introducing foreigners to Japanese culture. However, there are few conservators of Japanese works overseas, so numerous works are not ready for exhibition, and those works are not properly conserved. The Institute conducts the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas so that these Japanese artworks can be conserved and exhibited. The program facilitates cooperation in conservation of works overseas and it conducts workshops in an effort to conserve and restore such works. The current survey examined Japanese paintings in Australia in order to identify works for future conservation by the cooperative program.
From March 16 to 19, Institute researchers visited the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia. The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne is Australia’s oldest art museum while the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra boasts the country’s largest collection of art. During the survey, the detailed state of hanging scrolls, a hand scroll, and folding screens (8 works in total) were examined and the works were also studied from the perspective of art history. The works will be assessed in terms of art history and works in need of urgent conservation will be identified based on the results of the survey, and works will be selected for conservation under the cooperative program. In addition, information gleaned from the survey will be provided to the curating institution in order to formulate future plans to exhibit and conserve the works.
2015 Calendar: Preserving Cultural Properties: Traditional Techniques from Japan
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation is studying Selected Conservation Techniques that must be preserved in order to preserve cultural properties. The center conducts interview surveys with the technique holders and the individuals from selected organizations, asking about their work process, the situation surrounding their work and their social environment and takes photographic records of them at work and their tools. Two versions of a 2015 calendar (a wall hanging version and a desktop version) for overseas were produced to inform the public of these efforts and provide information. The calendar is entitled Traditional Japanese Technique to Conserve Cultural Properties and it covers production of Japanese paper, production of sukisu bamboo screens for papermaking, plastering, dyeing with natural Japanese indigo, gathering Japanese cypress bark, Tatara smelting, and production of brushes for makie from among topics studied in 2014. All of the photographs were taken by SHIRONO Seiji of the Institute’s Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems. These visually stunning images capture an instant highlighting the aspects of traditional materials and techniques, and explanations of each photograph are provided in English and Japanese. The calendar will be distributed to foreign agencies and organizations dealing with cultural properties to promote of understanding of Japanese techniques to conserve cultural properties and Japanese culture.
The seminar featuring a presentation by Ms. INABA Mai
The Modern and Contemporary Art Section of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems has continued Research on the History of Cultural Exchanges of Modern and Contemporary Art. This research project covers modern and contemporary art from Japan and other parts of East Asia. As part of that project, a seminar of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems on February 17th featured a presentation by Ms.INABA Mai, an Associate Professor at Kwangwoon University in South Korea. The presentation was entitled Korea’s “Dong Yang Hua(East Asian Painting)”.
The genre now known as Dong Yang Hua in South Korea originally developed when Nihonga(Japanese style Painting) took hold in Korea during the era of Japan’s colonial rule. In criticism of Oriental Painting after the end of that rule, the term South Korean Painting referred to the same genre of painting but connoted establishment of an ethnic identity. The term Han Guk Hua(South Korean Painting) came into vogue starting in the 1980s. Professor INABA’s presentation described the political context for the term Dong Yang Hua and events leading up to use of the current term South Korean Painting. The presentation also covered related topics and featured examples of representative works.
The concept of Nihonga was established after Japan’s modernization. This concept was actively discussed by critics, art historians, and artists in Japan from the 1990s to the early 2000s. Over the past few years, artists producing Nihonga have been re-examining the concept in light of Mineral Pigment Paintings and Gouache Paintings that have developed in parts of East Asia such as China and Taiwan. The seminar looked at the nature of Korea’s “Dong Yang Hua in light of its shared origins and its unique developments within national boundaries. The seminar provided a good opportunity to reconsider Nihonga in comparison. Friction between Japan and South Korea with regard to an awareness of history is constantly discussed. The seminar was attended by Ms. KIM Kibum (a curator at the National Hansen’s Disease Museum), who remarked that “we should not ignore the unfortunate circumstances under which the two cultures met. Instead, researchers from the two countries should delve further while looking at each other with fresh eyes.” Hopefully, researchers will ponder KIM’s words and events like this seminar will lead to future research.
The seminar venue
A seminar on passing down intangible cultural heritage (traditional techniques) was jointly organized by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum on February 3, 2015. The title of the seminar was “The People and Tools that Sustain Textile Techniques Tools are essential to passing down textile techniques. The seminar featured a panel discussion of how those tools and techniques are related and the current state of those tools and techniques. FUJII Kenzo (of the Kyoto Textile Research Institute) was invited to comment. The panel included YOSHIMURA Kouka (a curator at the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum), textile makers who were filmed for the exhibition, NAKAYAMA Shunsuke (Head of the Modern Cultural Properties Section of the Institute’s Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques), and KIKUCHI Riyo (of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage).
The textile makers described how they are continually confronted with a choice regarding which tools to use, i.e. whether to introduce machinery to increase operational efficiency or to continue using the tools they have inherited. The textile makers also described how the techniques to make those tools have disappeared over the past few years. As a result, tools that were once readily available are no longer available, so craftsmen cannot inherit them even if they want to.
That said, there is the view that only those techniques with accompanying demand should be preserved. Kimono are currently worn on special occasions. Kimono production is almost non-existent in comparison to the days when kimono were everyday wear. Textile techniques are a form of intangible cultural heritage, but textile manufacture also falls within the framework of an industry. Textile makers produced textiles to make a living, but that cannot happen if there is no market for those textiles. In other words, what sort of kimono do consumers want? Existing techniques can change depending on the answer to that question.
The people that sustain textile techniques are not merely the textile makers. Each person who buys or wears clothing made from those textiles and wishes to preserve those textiles sustain the techniques used to make them. This seminar was meaningful since it impressed that fact upon a number of attendees. The seminar had numerous issues, such as time constraints, a lack of further discussion, and the fact that too broad a range of topics was covered. In the future, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage would like to draw on the views expressed by attendees and provide a forum in which individuals with different perspectives can discuss the passing down of textile techniques.
The seminar underway
For the conservation of cultural properties, it is important to maintain properly environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light, and air quality. Environmental conditions of temperature and humidity in facilities that exhibit and store cultural properties have been improved remarkably with the progress of technology of air-conditioning units. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the change of climate conditions surrounding cultural properties on loan transported between regions of different climates and of the energy saving, the debates for discussing temperature and humidity conditions is recently being held more and more actively not only in Japan but also internationally.
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques studies how the influence of temperature and humidity on cultural properties and methods to predict and control temperature and humidity levels. A seminar on Controlling and Predicting Conditions for Conservation of Cultural Properties was held on February 9, 2015. Researchers in conservation (MABUCHI Hajime of the Mie Prefectural Museum and KOTAJIMA Tomoko of the Tokyo University of the Arts) and experts in architecture (GONDO Takashi of the Kajima Technical Research Institute, KITAHARA Hiroyuki of Total System Laboratory Co., and ABUKU Masaru of Kinki University) were invited to do presentations at the seminar. The latest information on conditions for conservation of cultural properties was shared and discussed at the seminar. This information included examples of temperature and humidity control with air-conditioning units in museums, examples of the new systems that have been developed and installed, examples of studies of temperature and humidity levels and air quality in display cases, and comparisons of the measured temperature and humidity levels and those predicted by using computer simulations (attendance: 29 individuals).
Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow (Poland)
During a survey of works in the collection
Numerous Japanese artworks can be found in European and American collections overseas. However, there are few conservators of these artworks overseas, and many of these works cannot be shown to the public since they have not been properly conserved. Thus, the Institute conducts the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas in order to properly conserve and exhibit these works. Works in the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology were surveyed because of the museum’s fervent desire and need for help with conservation.
Located in Krakow (Poland), the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology is home to a number of the Japanese artworks found in Eastern Europe. The Kyoto-Krakow Foundation was founded by individuals such as the film and theatre director Andrzej WAJDA. The Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology was established in 1994 with help from the foundation and private contributions and assistance from the governments of Japan and Poland. The museum’s collection centers on works collected by the art collector Feliks ‘Manggha’ JASIENSKI (1861–1929), and the collection includes a host of Japanese paintings such as ukiyo-e (woodblock) prints as well as pottery, lacquerware, and textiles.
A survey of paintings in the collection was conducted in 2 phases of January 13–23, 2015 and February 3–6, 2015. The first phase surveyed 84 paintings. Seven of these works were selected based on their value in terms of art history and their urgent need for conservation. The second phase examined these 7 works in detail in order to determine the time needed to conserve them and appropriate methods of conserving them.
Plans are to formulate a plan for conservation of the identified works and to conserve them under the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas in the future. The information gleaned from the survey will be shared with curators and conservators at the museum so that these works can be conserved and exhibited.
Panel discussion at the seminar
As part of a project financed by a grant for operational expenses entitled Cooperation for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia, the Institute held a seminar on Wooden Buildings in Myanmar in its seminar hall on February 13.
Starting in 2013, the Institute has conducted studies and provided trainings on the conservation of cultural properties in Myanmar. Such efforts include the Networking Core Centers for International Cooperation on Conservation of Cultural Heritage project to safeguard the cultural heritage of Myanmar commissioned by the Agency of Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government. As a field of the cooperation is,the Institute has implemented a training program in survey techniques for the conservation of historic wooden buildings. There still is, however, a dearth of study accumulation, whether domestic or foreign, on wooden buildings in Myanmar themselves, and these buildings have yet to be fully understood.
Raymond Myo Myint Sein, a former professor at the Department of Architecture of the Rangoon Institute of Technology, is a pioneer in research on wooden buildings in Myanmar and Zar ChiMin, an associate professor at the Department of Architecture of Technological University (Mandalay), is a spirited young researcher. At the seminar, these two invited speakers and Japanese representatives gave presentations sharing the results of previous research on traditional wooden buildings in Myanmar. Then, discussion was made on the cultural significance of those buildings to Myanmar people and topics for the future research.
A report on the seminar featuring articles from the presenters and the details of the panel discussion waspublished, as well.
During an interview with the Director of the Sarawak Museum and other museum representatives (Malaysia)
Patan Durbar Square (Nepal)
The Japan Consortium for International Cooperation in Cultural Heritage conducted several surveys in partnering countries Malaysia and Nepal in February. The surveys had 3 goals: to gather information about the current state regarding issues with safeguarding of cultural heritage, to ascertain needs related to those efforts, and to explore the possibility for international cooperation.
In Malaysia, Consortium research members met with the Director of the Department of National Heritage from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and other representatives. The meeting provided general information about the system for safeguarding cultural heritage at a national level. Afterwards, they toured through the historic cities of Melaka and George Town (World Heritage Sites) and the archeological site in the Bujang Valley of Kedah and examined the state of preservation of those sites. They also visited Kuching on the island of Borneo, where ethnic minorities continue to preserve their traditions. Consortium gathered informationabout the system and efforts to safeguard the area’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage, which differs from thoses in Malay Peninsula.
In Nepal, Consortium research members observed the UNESCO Japanese funds-in-trust project initialized to preserve cultural heritage in Lumbini (World Heritage site) and the management of the conservation of traditional buildings in the Katmandu Valley. They viewed intangible cultural heritage in forms of the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri and Gyalpo Lhosar (celebration of Tibetan New Year), and interviewed locals. In addition, Consortium visited the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, the Department of Archaeology and the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust to gatherinformation.
37 visitors from the Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan
On January 19, visitors from the Society of Photography and Imaging of Japan visited the Institute to tour facilities of preservation and restoration techniques for cultural properties and facilities of scientific research and digital archive. Visitors also toured the Library of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems and Chemistry Laboratory No. 3 of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, and staff members in charge of those facilities explained their work. Afterwards, visitors attended a lecture by SHIRONO Seiji, artificer of Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems.
The Special Exhibits Gallery of the Kuroda Memorial Hall. From the right, the pieces are KURODA Seiki’s Woman Reading, Maiko Girl, and Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment. The gallery is open to the public for 2 weeks during the New Year holidays and 2 weeks in the spring and fall.
The Kuroda Memorial Hall that stands in one corner of Ueno Park is the Institute’s birthplace. The building where the Hall is now located was built in conjunction with a bequest by the Western-style painter KURODA Seiki, who is revered as ”the father of Japanese modern Western-style painting.” This is the same building in which the Art Research Institute, the predecessor to today’s National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, was established in 1930. The building houses the Kuroda Memorial Hall, a repository and gallery that showcases KURODA’s career as a painter. In addition to his bequest, KURODA Seiki also donated pieces of his work. These works, which include Lakeside and Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment, have been put on public display. In 2000, the Institute took over the building’s role as an exhibition site, and the Institute continued to manage the building until 2007, when the Tokyo National Museum assumed control over its management. Over a period of about 3 years, the building has been earthquake-proofed, and on January 2 the building reopened.
Renovations involved the creation of a new gallery, designated the Special Exhibits Gallery, that seeks to give visitors greater insight into KURODA’s career as a painter. In addition to the works Lakeside and Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment, the gallery now also houses Woman Reading and Maiko Girl, which are works that were previously curated by the Tokyo National Museum. The gallery provides a place in which one can enjoy signature works by KURODA Seiki (the gallery will be open to the public for 2 weeks during the New Year holidays and 2 weeks in the spring and fall). The Kuroda Memorial Hall has exhibited KURODA’s works since its establishment. The Hall will be open to the public on days when the Tokyo National Museum is open, providing even more opportunities to enjoy KURODA’s works. Exhibitions at the Hall are arranged to allow an overview of KURODA’s career as a painter.
Since the Institute relinquished its control over management of the Kuroda Memorial Hall, it has continued to focus on research into KURODA Seiki, who was closely involved in the Institute’s founding. Volumes on Kuroda that the Institute has published can be perused in the Library on the second floor of the Memorial Hall. In addition, the Institute’s website http://www.tobunken.go.jp/kuroda/index.html offers access to basic information for research into KURODA, such as high-resolution images of his works and the text of the diary he wrote. Please feel free to have a look.
Imaging of A Painting of Mahamayuri
Together with the Tokyo National Museum, the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems has continued to conduct joint studies of Buddhist paintings from the Heian Period in the National Museum’s collection. Each year, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo uses its high-resolution digital imaging technology to image a single work in order to assemble data so that researchers can learn about the finer aspects of the techniques used to produce the work. These data have allowed identification of extraordinary techniques that would not have been apparent with the naked eye. Researchers from the Tokyo National Museum and the Institute have explored how these techniques relate to the sophisticated pictorial depictions in Buddhist paintings from the Heian Period. As part of this year’s study, A Painting of Mahamayuri (jpn.Kujaku-myō-ō) (National Treasure) was imaged on January 15, 2015. The image data obtained will be shared with researchers from the Tokyo National Museum, and in the future researchers from the two facilities will explore the painting’s place in art history.
On January 27, the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems invited KAWAGUCHI Masako (Head of the Research Library, Curation department, the National Museum of Western Art) to speak. Ms. KAWAGUCHI delivered a presentation entitled “Recent international trends concerning information on art-related literature: With a focus on the Art Discovery Group Catalogue developed with the Getty Research Institute (US).”
The Art Discovery Group Catalogue as was mentioned in the title of Ms. KAWAGUCHI’s presentation is a bibliographic search system that came on line in 2013. According to Ms. KAWAGUCHI, the system “allows a search of the catalogues of over 60 art libraries in countries around the world along with 1.4 billion journal articles.” Moreover, the system has an interface in Japanese as well. This allows information to be provided by the National Diet Library in Japan in addition to information from major art libraries in the US and Europe. Pursuant to a 3-year plan, the Institute is currently creating a cultural properties archive, so presentations on recent trends overseas like that by Ms. KAWAGUCHI are a valuable source of information and a prominent indicator of efforts abroad. The Getty Research Institute in the US played a major role in the creation of the Art Discovery Group Catalogue, and Ms. KAWAGUCHI described some of the Research Institute’s efforts related to collecting and disseminating information in the Catalogue. In October of last year, the Director of the Getty Research Institute and colleagues visited the Institute, so the presentation provided information that would prove useful in discussions of future joint studies by the Research Institute and the Institute. The presentation mentioned the website of the National Museum of Western Art, and the Museum is actively working to make research information available on its website. This description was a valuable reference for determining the future direction of information dissemination by the Institute. The Institute plans to continue talks with an eye toward coordinating with the National Museum in the future.
Harvested Japanese wisteria is buried in the ground before the week of the vernal equinoctial ends
Working dwarf bamboo
On January 24, efforts to preserve and pass on a technique to make winnowing fans from Japanese wisteria (nationally designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property) were surveyed. This technique has been passed down in the Kizumi area of the City of Sosa, Chiba Prefecture.
Winnowing fans are an essential tool for everyday life since these fans are used to carry items and separate grain from chaff. These fans are also ceremonial implements that are used in festivals and annual events. These fans are thus an essential part of life. Three techniques to make these winnowing fans have currently received national designation as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property (folk technique). One of these techniques is practiced in the Kizumi area of the City of Sosa, where winnowing fans continue to be made using Japanese wisteria and dwarf bamboo. Winnowing fans from the Kizumi area are light, sturdy, and extremely flexible, and these fans were widely used throughout the Kanto region. The heyday for the making of winnowing fans was from the Taisho Period to the mid-1950s, when the Kizumi area and surrounding areas produced 80,000 winnowing fans annually. However, changes in the social climate and the spread of plastic baskets and baskets from China have resulted in a sharp decline in current demand for the winnowing fans.
The Kizumi Society to Preserve the Making of Winnowing Fans was formed to pass on the technique to make winnowing fans in the Kizumi area. Starting in 2010, the Society has conducted a class to pass down the technique and the Society has worked to foster individuals who will continue to pass on the technique. The class is held monthly. Local individuals who wish to pass down the technique act as teachers, and they work tireless to collect materials for the winnowing fans, work those materials, make the fans, and put on demonstration sales at local festivals. Students attending the class vary in age; some wish to start making the winnowing fans after mandatory retirement, some are learning how to make winnowing fans while working bamboo professionally or semi-professionally, and some are local organic farmers. Regardless of who they are, the students are passionate about learning. Some of the students are residents of the Kizumi area while others attend monthly from places such as the Town of Yokoshibahikari and the City of Kamogawa. The class on January 24 had several dozen students who learned about harvesting Japanese wisteria and dwarf bamboo and then treating and working those materials.
The demand for many folk goods has declined sharply due to changes in the social climate and the spread of materials and tools that can be used to mass produce items at a low cost. Circumstances continue to hamper the passing down of folk techniques. If those techniques are no longer needed by society, how will values change? Is there a point to passing down those techniques and if so how? Numerous communities are facing these issues.
The survey found that residents of the Kizumi area have created a place and an atmosphere where people can learn how to make winnowing fans and they have taken in outsiders who are interesting in learning how to make those items. The residents do this as part of their own life’s work, as a hobby, or as practitioners of an art. The survey revealed evidence of a new relationship emerging in which people are no longer forced make winnowing fans as an occupation, as they were in the past. Instead, people have decided themselves that they want to make winnowing fans. As the evidence indicated, this approach may constitute a new model with which to pass down techniques. This approach is possible because values are more diverse today, so people have the option of reexamining traditional culture and seeking to return to a life more in tune with nature.
A discussion of the safeguarding cultural heritage with representatives from ICHHTO
A mosque in Isfahan where tiles have been replaced over a period of 17 years
From January 7 to 23, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation (JCICC) conducted a field survey on the safeguarding of cultural heritage in Iran. The survey included 9 World Heritage sites in Iran. The survey was conducted in order to determine the current state in which Iranian cultural heritage is safeguarded and to explore the possibility of future international cooperation in this regard.
As of 2015, Iran is a cultural colossus with 17 World Heritage sites. A tour of cultural heritage sites such as Persepolis and Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan was conducted in cooperation with Iran’s Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO). JCICC personnel were able to hear directly from site managers about site preservation and restoration efforts and current issues regarding the safeguarding of cultural heritage.
In Tehran, JCICC personnel talked with Dr. M. TALEBIAN, the vice president of ICHHTO. JCICC personnel described projects by the Institute and they discussed the nature of future efforts to safeguard cultural heritage with Dr. TALEBIAN based on their inspection of cultural properties at different sites in Iran. In addition, JCICC personnel visited Iran’s Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT), a leading research institute in Iran. JCICC personnel toured the RICHT and discussed cultural heritage with RICHT personnel.
Through the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust, Japan has previously provided support for restoration of the Chogha Zanbil ziggurat and the Arg-e Bam site that were ravaged by an earthquake in 2003. Thus, Iran has already engaged in cultural exchanges with Japan. The hope is that such efforts will foster greater cooperation between Japan and Iran and allow joint studies and conservation efforts with Iran in the future.
An explanation on using dry rubbings to document marks left by woodworking
The third session of training in conservation of wooden structures
From January 13 to 23, a training session was conducted at the Bagaya Monastery in Innwa and at the Mandalay branch of Myanmar’s Department of Archaeology and National Museum (DoA). Major topics of the training were survey methods to trace the history of modifications in building structures from the period of initial construction and applied building techniques. Trainees were 10 personnel from the DoA, an associate professor from the Technological University (Mandalay), and a graduate of the university as an observer. Some trainees used CAD images when they presented the results of surveys conducted in groups. Trainees appeared to be quite adept at sketching plans in comparison to when they started the training. Such evidence of trainees taking the initiative and the effectiveness of continued training is truly a joy to behold.
Work underway at pagoda No.1205
A survey of and training in the conservation of mural painting at brick temple ruins
From January 19 to 26, emergency steps were taken to preserve collapsing portions of mural painting at pagoda No. 1205 and conditions indoors and the state of damage to the pagoda’s roof were surveyed. These efforts began last year. The survey of the roof corroborated the assumption that damage was due to rain leakage and termite nests. Plans are to explore effective countermeasures to deal with these problems in cooperation with personnel from the DoA. In addition, training on surveying and documenting restoration of mural painting was conducted at the Bagan Archeological Museum. Trainees were 5 experts in mural painting restoration from the Bagan and Mandalay branches of the DoA. Surveying and documentation are seldom done during restoration efforts in Myanmar, so this training should teach attendees about basic surveying and documentation techniques and impress upon them the importance of those steps.
Materials analysis using X-ray fluorescence (Bagaya Monastery)
A survey of lacquer materials and techniques
From January 15 to 23, surveys on lacquerware in Myanmar were conducted in Mandalay, Monywa, and Bagan. In Mandalay, a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer was used to ascertain the traditional materials in and techniques used to produce lacquer materials and glass mosaics found in wooden buildings such as the Shwe Nan Daw Monastery. In the suburbs of Monywa, interviews were conducted regarding collection of lacquer ingredients. Results of that survey furthered understanding of the characteristics of lacquer produced in Myanmar, which differs from that produced in Japan. In Bagan, the collection of the Lacquerware Museum was surveyed and lectures on materials analysis were provided to personnel from the Lacquerware Technology College and the Lacquerware Museum. The fact that trainees have a greater understanding of the need to and ways to preserve lacquerware is evident in ongoing cooperation between Japan and Myanmar.
Five members from the Juming Museum (Taiwan)
On December 1, personnel from the Juming Museum visited the Institute to inspect about the research activities of and the collection of art materials and management of digital archives by National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. The visitors discussed research efforts with researchers in the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems in detail.
Five members from the New Taipei City Library in Taiwan
On December 19, personnel from the New Taipei City Library visited the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo to visit its facilities. The visitors inspected a library of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems. Researchers in a library and the Archives Section explained the work they do.
The front cover of “Reconsidering ‘Form’”
From January 10 (Fri.)–12 (Mon.), 2014, the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems held the 37th International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Properties. The title of the symposium was “Reconsidering ‘Form’: Towards a More Open Discussion” and the symposium featured presentations mostly by Institute staff members who study tangible cultural properties. The tone of the symposium was set by asking fundamental questions such as what is an object’s “form” and why do we consider “form,” and the symposium covered methodological approaches to “form.” Thus, the symposium was attended by researchers who study the intangible such as noh drama and waka poetry. The symposium attempted to highlight different perceptions of “form” in different disciplines. Artists also took the podium to describe their perspective of creators of works and they candidly talked about their perceptions in relation to the act of creating a work. This was a fresh perspective for researchers who seek to delve into a work starting with its “form.”
Research presentations and the discussion that took place at this international symposium were consolidated into a report that was published on December 17, 2014. This proceedings is being sold by Heibonsha and is available at book stores. For details, please check out the following webpage.
http://www.heibonsha.co.jp/book/b186659.html
Diary of IMAIZUMI Yoshihiko
IMAIZUMI Yoshihiko (1931–2010) is an individual who supported post-war avant garde art both implicitly and explicitly. Seeking to become a painter, IMAIZUMI began by writing critical essays for publications like the magazine Work & Critique in the 1950s. In 1958, he participated in the inaugural issue of the magazine Keishō (Form) (later renamed Kikan, or Organ). Through Keishō, IMAIZUMI interacted more with young avant garde artists at the time. The artists he met became lecturers at the art school known as Bigakkō (Art School) that the publisher Gendaishicho started in 1969. IMAIZUMI was involved with Bigakkō from its inception. In 1975, Bigakkō broke from Gendaishicho, and IMAIZUMI joined the School’s board to help run the School.
Materials in IMAIZUMI’s collection that were related to Bigakkō were exhibited at an exhibit entitled “Anti-Academy” at the John Hansard Gallery at the University of Southampton in 2013. During the current survey, KIKKAWA Hideki and KAWAI Daisuke, Associate Fellows in the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems, examined materials consisting of a diary, photographs, books, magazines, and correspondence. This survey took place with the help of IMAIZUMI’s wife Eiko, who was referred to the Institute by SHIMADA Yoshiko, one of the individuals who planned the “Anti-Academy” exhibition. The materials were found to include a relatively large amount of correspondence with and documents regarding artists who later taught at Bigakkō such as NAKAMURA Hiroshi, a fellow graduate of the Art Department of Nihon University known for his reportage painting, AKASEGAWA Genpei, who met IMAIZUMI at a round-table discussion on “Keishō” and who went on trial for the “1000 Yen Note” incident (IMAIZUMI was one of the key figures who helped to support AKASEGAWA during his trial), KIKUHATA Mokuma, a key member of the avant-garde art group known as the Kyūshū-ha, and MATSUZAWA Yutaka, the pioneer of conceptual art in Japan.
In addition to materials related to these artists, IMAIZUMI’s collection also includes a detailed diary he wrote from around 1960–1962. IMAIZUMI’s collection includes valuable records from the time when Japanese avant-garde art was at its peak. Plans are to continue studying post-war art by examining these materials in detail.
