| ■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 |
|
Installing the electrically-operated bookshelf bases on the rails
Electrically-operated bookshelves being set
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) maintains materials, including books and photographs, collected by TOBUNKEN’s departments and centers (the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Center for Conservation Science, and the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation) mainly in the TOBUNKEN Library. The library itself consists of the reading room and stack rooms; however, the aforementioned materials can be accessed by external researchers at the Library, which is open three days a week.
Almost 23 years have passed since TOBUNKEN moved to its current building in 2000. During these years, TOBUNKEN has continuously been collecting materials, including books and photographs, through its research activities. Furthermore, it has recently had more opportunities to receive donations of archives from the collections of ex-employees and related researchers. Through these activities, the Library has been able to accumulate many more materials, and enhance the quality of those materials. At the same time, we foresaw that the bookshelves would be overflowing in the near future. Therefore, we reconstructed the bookshelves as part of the framework entitled “planned management of investigational research equipment.”
During this reconstruction, the fixed bookshelves were replaced with electrically-operated bookshelves in almost one-fourth of the total floor space of the second-floor stack room. The reconstruction started on January 10th, 2023. After taking out the materials from the bookshelves, removing the fixed bookshelves, laying the rails for new bookshelves, setting the new electrically-operated bookshelves, and setting the materials back to the new shelves, the renovation was completed on the 30th. The space which was previously home to five fixed bookshelves (612 shelves, 526m in total) now accommodates nine new electrically-operated bookshelves (1,248 shelves, 1,073 in total), with capacity almost doubling.
We apologize for any inconvenience resulting from the Library’s temporary closure during the reform. We continue to work to collect, pass down, and utilize materials valuable for research and conservation of cultural properties. We hope that the TOBUNKEN archives can well serve your research activities.
A part of the Collection
MAEDA Seison watching Joshishin (reprinted from BUNKA vol.246-247, October 1974)
The Maeda Seison’s Collection (referred to as the Collection) was donated to the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) on October 11th, 2022. It comprises materials that were collected and owned by MAEDA Seison (1885-1997), a Japanese-style painter. It was donated by Ms. AKIYAMA Hideko, the third daughter of Seison, via her eldest son, Prof. AKIYAMA Terufumi (professor emeritus of Ochanomizu University, Director of Meguro Museum of Arts, Tokyo). TOBUNKEN gave a letter of gratitude to Ms. AKIYAMA on November 8th, 2022.
The Collection consists of the materials of 113 titles of 275 items: 109 titles of books (total of 270 books), three cassette tapes, and a set of two records. It includes texts on the ancient practices of arms including armors, printed books of the Edo era such as history books, art books of KŌNO Bairei, orihon* associated with the title piece of KAJITA Hanko’s Original Painting Draft, and collections of sketches of KOBAYASHI Kahaku and SAKAI Sanryō, who are his junior fellows from the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute). They are indispensable materials for future studies on MAEDA Seison.
Further, the Collection includes cassette tapes of “Seison’s Reunion with Joshishin: the Admonitions of the Court Ladies (Copy)**.” This is a recording of the investigation on Joshishin painted by KOBAYASHI Kokei and Seisen held at Seison’s house in Kita-Kamakura, including an interview of Seison in 1974. This was arranged by Dr. AKIYAMA Terukazu, professor at the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters; researcher emeritus of TOBUNKEN; husband of Seison’s daughter; and father of Prof. AKIYAMA Terufumi. Dr. KAMEDA Tsutomu and Prof. HARADA Ryukichi of Tohoku University as well as Dr. TSUJI Nobuo, Ms. SEKI Chiyo, and Mr. KONO Motoaki of TOBUNKEN at that time participated in this investigation. Therefore, they are also precious as TOBUNKEN’s activity records. Considering its nature, the Collection is essential for the research of Seison and his artworks. Furthermore, it is useful for the current wider research of cultural properties as the materials show how the cultural property investigation was conducted at that time.
The MAEDA Seison’s Collection, donated in 2022, will be available at the TOBUNKEN Library. We plan to make the book materials of the Collection open to access through a joint operation with the Getty Research Institute, and digitize cassette tapes and records to enable long-term utilization for research. We hope that the Collection will contribute to research on MAEDA Seison, modern Japan-style paintings, and further, on cultural properties.
*orihon: a long strip of paper with writing on one side that is then compacted by folding in zig-zag fashion
**Joshishin: Admonitions of the Court Ladies (Copy): Reproduction painted by KOBAYASHI Kokei and MAEDA Seisen of the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies housed in the British Museum. This is housed in the Tohoku University Museum.
Introduction in the conference room
Explanation about the auction catalogue digital archive
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) introduced the guidance for TOBUNKEN Library with 14 graduate students of Gakushuin University (led by Prof. SARAI Mai and Prof. SHIMAO Arata) on July 1st. At the beginning of this guidance session, KIKKAWA Hideki explained how to use the library and how the collection was developed in the conference room on the second floor of TOBUNKEN. We then moved to the library and its stack rooms, where our staff introduced various materials including the Auction Catalogue Digital Archive, investigational photographs of cultural properties, and auction catalogues. The participants handled the digital archives, held the books and photos, listened to the explanations, and actively asked questions from the viewpoint of how they could utilize them for their own research.
The Archive Section of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems has a mission to collect, organize, and conserve materials concerning cultural properties and prepare an easily accessible and effectively usable environment for experts and students working on cultural properties. As a part of this mission, we continue to actively hold guidance sessions. If you want to participate in the sessions, please submit your request with reference to “TOBUNKEN Library Guidance for undergraduate/graduate students and museum staffs” (Japanese only).
Letter from KUBOTA Shigeko, a pioneer in video art, to MIKI Tamon, enclosing photos of exhibited artworks at her first personal exhibition (December 1963 at Naiqua Gallery, Tokyo)
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) made three archives of documents, the Muramatsu Gallery Papers, TAKAMI Akihiko Papers, and MIKI Tamon Papers, available as a research outcome of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems in FY 2021.
The Muramatsu Gallery Papers consist of their exhibition materials (including scrapbooks of exhibition invitation postcards and photo albums to record exhibitions) from 1966 to 2009. The TAKAMI Akihiko Papers are the exhibition materials of art galleries from 1990s to 2000s. The MIKI Tamon Papers are a group of materials including exhibition invitation postcards from the first half of the 1960s.
Surveys of personal exhibitions at art galleries constitute an important basic process for studying post-war contemporary artists. However, investigating what artworks and how they were exhibited is extremely difficult. This is because art magazines and newspapers rarely published personal exhibitions of budding, but still unknown artists. Therefore, it is only possible to specify the venues and schedules of exhibitions through publication media.
The three archives being released include many photos of exhibitions and exhibited artworks. These act as support tools for researchers to overcome “difficulties” in investigating contemporary arts, as indicated above. These archives can be browsed at the TOBUNKEN Library (advanced reservation required). We hope that many researchers utilize these archives to advance their research.
*TOBUNKEN Library Visitor’s Guide (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/joho/english/library/library_e.html)
Information on the archives is available at the bottom of the Japanese page (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/joho/japanese/library/library.html (Japanese only).)
Seminar on MATSUZAWA Yutaka Archive at TOBUNKEN
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) held the Seminar on MATSUZAWA Yutaka Archives – the 9th Seminar held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems both in-person and online. TOBUNKEN invited experts in charge of recording and organizing the activities of MATSUZAWA Yutaka (1922-2006), a pioneer of conceptual arts, and experts and researchers who work on finding new value in these materials.
This seminar is also a part of a research project, “Research and Compilation of Materials on Modern and Contemporary Art”, and a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, “Study on Art Collective in Post-1968: Based on Matsuzawa Yutaka’s Archive” (principle investigator: KIKKAWA Hideki).
The following presentations were provided: in order of presentation:
The 100 anniversary of birth, MATSUZAWA YUTAKA: From the Investigation by the Art Museum to the Exhibition by Ms. KINOUCHI Mayumi and Ms. FURUIE Mitsuha (Nagano Prefectural Art Museum),
MATSUZAWA Yutaka’s Exchange with Latin American Arts – Based on the Materials of CAyC (Centro de Arte y Comunicación) by Dr. INOUE Emiko (Hunter College, the City University of New York), and
About the Data Center for Contemporary Art (DCCA): Archive Project by MATSUZAWA Yutaka by KIKKAWA Hideki.
After the above presentations, the four presenters and seminar participants (11 in-person and 33 online) exchanged opinions. The discussion involved people from General Incorporated Foundation – Matsuzawa Yutaka Psi Room Foundation (Executive director: Mr. MATSUZAWA Haruo), artists with direct relationships with MATSUZAWA Yutaka, and related parties from museums and archives. Topics varied from the significances and possibilities of the MATSUZAWA Yutaka Archives as research materials to challenges for archive preservation.
We at TOBUNKEN explore and fulfill our mission to pass down cultural property archives, not only the MATSUZAWA Yutaka Archives, recognized as valuable research materials that lack a guaranteed of long-term conservation for the next generations.
Presentation through the online conference system
Screenshot of a slide used for the presentation “Potential of further development: GRP Digital Content of Japanese Art”
At the 13th JADS fall seminar held on November 28th, 2020, we made a presentation titled “The Open Access Project of the Oda Kazuma Collection with a Focus on Illustrated Books by Katsushika Hokusai: Disseminate Bibliographic Information Globally in Collaboration with Getty Research Institute: Standardization of Bibliographic Information and Preservation of Material”. This presentation was created by KIKKAWA Hideki; TAMURA Ayako; ABE Tomoe; EMURA Tomoko from Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems; as well as YAMANASHI Emiko, Deputy Director General. On the day of the seminar, five members from Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties participated in the event through the online conference system. KIKKAWA Hideki and TAMURA Ayako, two of the five members, explained the preservation of material for the standardization and digitalization of bibliographic information, which were conducted during the project. They also suggested that the open access project has a lot of potential of further development. As part of the project, we developed an information channel to provide digitalized Japanese art material content to the Getty Research Portal (GRP: https://portal.getty.edu/). At the presentation, they mentioned that by making the channel available for all organizations concerned and by accumulating digitalized content related to Japanese art in the GRP, the global presence of Japanese art could be enhanced. Many specialists who handle museum library collections are members of the JADS. They provided us valuable feedback on our presentation, saying that it demonstrated a good example for handling archival material by focusing on the method of preserving the material and standardizing bibliographic information in a concrete manner.
As travel is restricted to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we are fully aware that the development and improvement of the online research environment is an urgent issue to address. We will disseminate information about Japanese art globally and improve the research environment to provide archival materials which would be beneficial for a wide range of research on cultural properties, while strengthening our partnership with other organizations.
Overview of the presentation is available on the URL below:（Proceedings of the 13th JADS fall seminar: http://www.jads.org/news/2020/jads_autumn2020.pdf#page=9）
Meeting of International Terminology Working Group
At the International Terminology Working Group (ITWG) Meeting held in the Getty Center located in Los Angeles, the United States, on February 6th and 7th, 2020, we delivered a presentation titled “Japanese artists, TNRICP”. This presentation reported on the development process of our providing Japanese artists’ name data for the Getty Vocabularies, as part of the joint project between Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP) and the Getty Research Institute. The ITWG, led by the Getty Research Institute, aims to discuss the common topics on Getty Vocabularies (getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/), the controlled vocabularies comprising Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA), Getty Iconography Authority (IA), and other programs. The meeting generally takes place every two years. This meeting attracted about 35 people from the United States, Taiwan, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Israel, Croatia, the UAE, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and other countries. Persons in charge of Getty Vocabularies programs reported their current situations and progress in function enhancement, while the institutions involved delivered presentations on pioneering practices in providing data for Getty Vocabularies. During the discussions about issues common to the Getty Research Institute and the institutions concerned, in response to these reports and presentations, useful advice was provided by participants from other countries.
International technical terms and biographical dictionaries are essential in introducing Japanese cultural properties to overseas in local languages. Getty Vocabularies find another way by focusing on today’s technologies and the alliance among the institutions concerned. By providing Japanese artists’ name data accumulated by TNRICP for many years, we aim to disseminate Japanese cultural properties, and support international studies on Japanese cultural heritage.
Scene of the seminar
The 4th seminar was held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems on July 23rd, 2019. The seminar was held in a mini symposium format with the theme, “Applying Post-War Japanese Art Archives in Research: The Case of Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives.”
In the first half of the seminar, there were four presentations and reports on the following: “Letters to Yutaka MATSUZAWA from the 50s and 60s” by Hideki KIKKAWA (Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems), “Investigation and Records on MATSUZAWA Yutaka Atelier Psi Room” by Mayumi KINOUCHI (Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum), “Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archive: Potential Uses Considered from Naiqua Gallery-Related Materials” by Yūka MIYATA (The National Museum of Art, Osaka), and “Digitization and Storage of Video Media: In the Case of MATSUZAWA Materials” by Shuhei HOSOYA (art and media researcher, filmmaker). In the second half of the seminar, Jun SHIOYA (Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems) presided over a discussion on Yutaka MATSUZAWA’s artwork and activities, the significance of these archives from the perspective of art history, the applications of these archives, and the archive organization method (data organization and material preservation). During the break, some of Yutaka MATSUZAWA’s archives were viewed by the concerned parties and some information was exchanged.
More than 40 people attended this seminar, including Yutaka MATSUZAWA’s family members, researchers from art museums and universities, and art writers. Presently, the Yutaka MATSUZAWA archives are being considered as the theme for grant-in-aid for scientific research, and there are plans to hold a symposium in 2020, the final year of this grant-in-aid research. Toward this end, the significance of Yutaka MATSUZAWA archives from the perspective of art history and cultural history will be studied in association with researchers from diverse fields.
Bibliographic data on book in the Institute collection appearing on CiNii Books.
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has become a member of the NACSIS-CAT/ILL Catalog Information Service. It has prepared a system for uploading the bibliographic data on book stored at each of its research departments (Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Center for Conservation Science, and the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation) to CiNii Books (https://ci.nii.ac.jp/books/).
The purpose of joining NACSIS-CAT is twofold: (1) the widespread visualization of collected book information; and (2) the improvement of our bibliographic data (standardization). With respect to (1), we will further promote the use of our collected book information released at TOBUNKEN Research Collections (http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/) on the Institute’s official site by releasing it to many more researchers and students via upload to CiNii Books. With respect to (2), we have been requested to create a highly effective system by standardizing bibliographic data provided by us through data tie-ups with outside agencies (The Getty Research Institute and OCLC. etc.). As NACSIS-CAT allows users to reference and utilize various domestic and overseas library catalog data, it is an infrastructure system suitable for the Institute to efficiently engage in standardization work.
The task of uploading 300,000 books from our library to CiNii Books and standardizing bibliographic data is currently underway. While this will take some time until completion, we will prepare a system of providing our collected books and information that we have collected over many years to contribute to the research activities of many more people.
RATI Poetry and Painting Exhibition “Avant-Garde Art Display” (Nanshin Kaikan, 1951) Group Photo (from Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives)
Scene of a presentation (photo contributed by Hiromasa NAGANUMA)
The symposium “Present State of the Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives and Their Application” was held at Suwako Museum and Akahiko Memorial Hall in Shimosuwa Town, Nagano Prefecture, on February 16th, 2019. Hideki KIKKAWA of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems gave a presentation entitled “Application of the Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives to Art History Research: Examples of Two Avant-Garde Art Events Held in Suwa City in 1951.”
This symposium was held as part of the “Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives Application Project,” an initiative implemented in association with local communities in order to support the creation of art galleries and history museums, which was led by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2018. It was sponsored by the archives application committee comprising members from Yutaka MATSUZAWA’s surviving family members, volunteers, and Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum. In the first part of the symposium, presentations related to the archives were delivered by six people: Haruo MATSUZAWA (Executive Director of the General Incorporated Foundation MATSUZAWA Yutaka Psi Room), Arata TANI (art critic), Yoshiko SHIMADA (artist), Kenya HIRAGA (Director of Nagano Prefectural Library), and Hideki KIKKAWA. In the second part of the symposium, a discussion moderated by Toru MATSUMOTO (Director of the Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum) was held, in which participants expressed their views on the archives’ application and exchanged opinions on their application from the perspective of their respective expertise.
The Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives comprise a vast amount of precious materials from the 1950s to the 2000s. In applying them toward the art history research mentioned in this symposium, the theme for grants-in-aid for scientific research “Research into Post-1968 Expressive Community: Yutaka MATSUZAWA Archives as the Cornerstone” (Basic Research ©, FY2018–2020) will continue to be pursued in association with researchers from diverse fields.
View of the presentation (KIKKAWA)
On December 2nd, 2018, Hideki KIKKAWA and Tomohiro OYAMADA presented the database of Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in the session “Data for Historical and Humanities Research (www.metaresource.jp/2018jmc/)” at the JinMonCom 2018 organized by the IPSJ SIG Computers and the Humanities, one of the research groups of the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ). This session was aimed at introducing databases that are not widely recognized yet in the IPSJ and promoting more active data use. KIKKAWA and OYAMADA presented the system overview of the TOBUNKEN Research Collections (www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/), the database of photographic negatives and plates which is the largest among our image databases, and the database of Art exhibitions and Obituaries which is based on the Year Book of Japanese Art published since 1936.
Additionally, various databases published by the National Diet Library, Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Foundation, Tokyo National Museum, the University of Tokyo and Aozora Bunko were presented and attracted the attention of the participants. In addition to publishing and managing the database of cultural properties, our Institute will make further efforts to spread the database of cultural properties and make it useful for survey/research.
Screenshot of the data from “Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Art Bibliography in Japan” represented by ADGC
The 11th fall seminar of the Japan Art Documentation Society was held at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo on October 13th, 2018. Researcher Hideki KIKKAWA from the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems delivered a joint presentation with Ms. Masako KAWAGUCHI from the National Museum of Western Art, which was titled “Efforts to Enhance the International Visibility of Japanese Exhibition Catalog Papers: Contribution of ‘Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Art Bibliography in Japan’ in OCLC.” The presentation was based on the past report (http://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/katudo/249516.html) regarding the entry of data as “Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Art Bibliography in Japan” in the OCLC Central Index that was started in January 2018, with a focus on the project’s background and contribution. Ms. Kawaguchi mentioned that the Art Discovery Group Catalogue (ADGC) was launched by the committee organized by world-famous libraries—following negotiations with OCLC—as one of the products of the framework of international collaboration in the field of fine arts library for the last ten years. She also stated that overseas art history databases were entered in the OCLC Central Index—one of the basic databases of ADGC—as the backdrop for the project. Kikkawa reported where “Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Art Bibliography in Japan” originated from, how the required data was collected and organized for the entry in OCLC, and how bibliographic data was provided for WorldCat.org and ADGC, in addition to the project’s further development in the coming years. “Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Art Bibliography in Japan” created during the editing process of the “Yearbook of Japanese Art” covers the latest outcome in fine arts research from Japanese galleries, museums, and universities. By transmitting such information widely, we would like to improve the research environment of cultural properties in Japan.
Ongoing presentation
Art Library of the RijksMuseum
Although there are innumerable libraries in the world including Japan, the United States and European countries have art libraries which specialize in art books and materials. Every two years, these countries hold an international conference for art libraries. During the 8th International Conference of Art Libraries held at the National Museum (Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on October 4th and 5th, 2018, we made an oral presentation titled “The Contribution of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties: Art Bibliography in Japan for OCLC Central Index.” The Institute has been collecting information on art exhibitions held in Japan, including literature-based information found in exhibition catalogues. We have provided data on approximately 50,000 items of literature appearing in exhibition catalogues from 1930 to 2013 to the OCLC Central Index. Although these Japanese art exhibition catalogues are highly specialized, they have had insufficient results in providing the public useful information compared to general magazines and papers. This initiative has resulted in offering OCLC users of the world new chances to find required materials. This conference is operated mainly by European countries and the United States, but after the presentation, we received feedback that this initiative in Asia is important to reinforce international cooperation among the art libraries.
We have been continually providing this kind of information in the OCLC Central Index. Recently, we offered approximately 2,800 items of literature-based information published in 2014. We are going to add additional literature data from 2015 by the end of 2018.
The results showing on the Getty Research Portal
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has been promoting a joint research project with the Getty Research Institute in the United States. On May 2017, the digital data of exhibition catalogues and art magazines published during the Meiji period that are controlled by the Institute became searchable and accessible on the Getty Research Portal (GRP). We became the first contributor of such data in Asia. The digital data of the “Year Book of Japanese Art” was published in 70 issues by the Institute from 1936 to 2013. “Bijutsu Kenkyu (Journal of Art Studies)” (the 1st issue to the 419th issue) and “Science for Conservation” (the 1st issue to the 57th issue) have also become searchable and accessible on the GRP. As a result, the total number of titles provided by the Institute is over 636. Although these publications were accessible from our website (Tobunken Research Collections: http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/; “Science for Conservation” in PDF: http://www.tobunken.go.jp/~ccr/pub/cosery_s/consery_s.html) and our repository (https://tobunken.repo.nii.ac.jp/), the searchability and accessibility of this data from the GRP that has numerous users in the world, through a virtual art library resulted in a drastic change. This initiative enhanced the potential of overseas countries accessing our achievements in the research of cultural properties. As part of this joint project between the two Institutes, we are currently digitalizing valuable information owned by the Institute such as the exposition and exhibition publications during the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods. We will also add these digitalized publications to the GRP by the end of June 2019.
The appearance of the 29th EAJRS conference venue (Vytautas Magnus University)
Ongoing presentation
The 29th European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) conference took place at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, from September 12th through 15th, 2018. EAJRS is an association comprising librarians, professors, curators, and other specialists who handle Japanese studies materials in Europe. The 2018 conference organized under the title of “(G)localizing Japanese Studies Resources” attracted 82 members from 20 countries (44 from Europe, 34 from Asia and 4 from North America). Mr. Hideki KIKKAWA, Researcher of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of this Institute reported the progress of the “Project to Make Japanese Exposition and Exhibition Materials Published from the Meiji to the Showa Open Access,” on which the Institute has been working together with the Getty Research Institute. During the Q & A period after the presentation, the expectations for the project were expressed and a lot of requests were made. This period provided us with a precious opportunity for further development of the project in the light of the received requests such as the one requiring the materials covered under the project to be increased or expanded. The annual conference consisted of 14 sessions, where 31 presentations were delivered, including the ones on studies of Japanese material collections and facilities having such collections delivered and introduced by overseas institutions, as well as a variety of activities and services to support overseas Japanese studies introduced by Japanese institutions. Opinions were actively exchanged in various places of the venue. Please access the URL of EAJRS for details of the conference program (https://www.eajrs.net/). The 2018 conference successfully ended after deciding the 2019 conference schedule to be held in Zurich (Switzerland).
Panel Discussion (Source: Center for Integrated Studies of Cultural and Research Resources of the National Museum of Japanese History)
Consultation with Mr. Ward and persons in charge from related institutions
An international symposium titled “Use of Standard Vocabularies in Art and History Areas – Getty Vocabulary Program Activities and Japan” took place at the National Museum of Japanese History on June 16th, 2018. Researcher Hideki KIKKAWA attended the symposium from the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems so as to report on the progress of providing data on Japanese artist names to the Union List of Artist Names of the Getty Research Institute. You may not frequently hear the word “standard vocabularies,” which supports the informatization and distribution of personal and geographical names by standardizing their notation. For this symposium, planned by Dr. Makoto GOTO (Professor at the National Museum of Japanese History), Mr. Jonathan WARD (Senior Editor of the Getty Vocabulary Program) gave a lecture on the concept of Getty Vocabularies and their current utilization status, and Ms. Sophy Chen (Associate Researcher at the Institute of History and Philosophy, Academia Sinica) lectured about multilingualization of vocabularies. Following these lectures, researchers from Japanese related institutions also gave reports on personal name information, corporate area information, contemporary art information, and operation of Linked Open Data. During the panel discussion, contributions made by Japan to Getty Vocabularies were discussed. Additionally, on June 18th, 2018, Mr. Ward and persons in charge from the National Museum of Japanese History, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and the Tokyo National Museum were invited to this Institute to consult on how standard vocabularies associated with cultural properties should be in Japan. These opportunities allowed us to share the possibility of collaboration among the institutions creating standard vocabulary databases in Japan.
Seminar in Progress
Part of the Finding Aid for Yoshida Yoshie Collection
In the seminar conducted on May 23rd, 2018, by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, Researcher Hideki KIKKAWA delivered a presentation titled “Storage, Conservation and Provision of Archives at the University of California, Los Angeles – Taking YOSHIDA Yoshie Collection as an Example.” The presenter visited the departments involved in the storage, conservation, and provision of archives at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and consulted with the concerned personnel on the occasion of opening the collection on YOSHIDA Yoshie, a Japanese critic, at UCLA in February 2018. Based on his visit and consultation at UCLA, the presenter reported the outlines of UCLA and its group of libraries, as well as how to manage archives, while discussing not only a budget scale for archives but also a more effective way of operating archives at domestic institutions with less personnel assigned. From outside the Institute, artist Ms. Yoshiko SHIMADA, who was involved in the donation to UCLA, and curator Mr. Yukinori OKAMURA from Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels, the gallery of Mr. and Mrs. Maruki, who had close relationships with YOSHIDA Yoshie, attended the seminar to exchange opinions from the viewpoints of specialists during the discussion after the presentation. In recent years, when artists and concerned personnel who pioneered postwar Japanese art have begun to pass away, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties is now expected to partially assume the role of securing the access to their archives without dissipation at a permanent institution.
A few of the materials possessed by Yoshihiko Imaizumi
On March 31st, the bereaved family of Yoshihiko IMAIZUMI (1931–2010), who was an artist and principal of an alternative art school “Bigakko,” donated the precious materials possessed by him. Mr. Imaizumi was involved in the avant-garde art movement while he was studying at the Department of Fine Arts, Nihon University College of Art. He wrote art critiques while creating paintings, and he was involved in the publication of a magazine “Keisho” in 1958. Since the foundation of the “Bigakko” in 1968, Mr. Imaizumi had been supporting the activities of avant-garde artists through widespread interactions with them until his last years. The papers donated this time include his diaries, photos, books and magazines, documents, and letters sent to him from the 1950s through the 2000s, which occupy book racks 6 m in length. Several materials are related to Yutaka MATSUZAWA, Hiroshi NAKAMURA, Natsuyuki NAKANISHI, Gempei AKASEGAWA, and Mokuma KIKUHATA, who taught at the art school. The letters exchanged with the Soviet Union in 1955 and 1957 when he was a member of the exhibition executive committee of the World Festival of Youth and Students, which was regarded as the Universiade for socialist countries, are also included. The letters enable verification of the relationships with non-American and non-Western European countries in the late 1950s. The papers are also valuable in the context of the cultural and social histories during the Cold War, in addition to art history. Members of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of the Institute visited his house to survey the papers before the donation by courtesy of his bereaved family. We will provide these precious materials as research data at the Library of the Institute after taking actions to conserve and organize the data for retrieval.
Open Seminar: “Toward Sharing Information on Art Magazines”; On-going Discussion
One of the sources for information regarding any exhibition or art museum is the art magazine. In recent times, there has been an increasing use of TV or the internet as an information source. However, before TV and the internet became popular and accessible to all, the art magazine, regularly published with pictures of various works of art, was a visual and immediate source for transmitting/supplying information to persons involved in the fine arts and art lovers. In the research on Japanese modern art, these art magazines play an important role as materials that reflect the details of the trends and movements in the fine arts of the time. Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties is a rich source of information as numerous art magazines published in the Meiji era and thereafter are in its possession. An open seminar titled “Toward Sharing Information on Art Magazines” was held on March 16th to provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the organization, publication, and sharing of such information.
In this seminar, the following three researchers specialized in Japanese modern art delivered presentations, whose titles are as shown below:
○Jun SHIOYA (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties): “Art Magazines of Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties – History of Its Collection and Publication”
○Shogo OHTANI (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo): “Another Art Scene in the Period from the Mid-1930s to the Mid-1940s from “Nikkan Bijutsu Tsushin (Daily Art Journal)”
○Hitoshi MORI (Kanazawa College of Art): “The Art Magazine – Its Value and the Obstacles to its Production”
Mr. Shioya unveiled the Institute’s history of collecting art magazines and described the project started by its predecessor, The Institute of Art Research, in 1932, to compile the art history of the Meiji and Taisho eras and the project to publish the “Yearbook of Japanese Art” initiated in 1936. Then, Mr. Ohtani pointed out the scarcity and the significance of the art industry journal published from 1935 through 1943, “Nikkan Bijutsu Tsushin (Daily Art Journal)” (the title was changed to “Bijutsu Bunka Simbun (Art Culture Newspaper)” in 1941), by introducing its articles on reorganization of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and the inside story of the organization that led to it publicly seeking works for its exhibition. Finally, Mr. Mori presented a comprehensive view on the friction between the concepts of “fine arts” and “magazine” brought in from Western Europe and the scope of Japanese pre-modern art, after presenting an overview of modern art magazines.
After the presentations, the three researchers held an active discussion together with Mr. Hideki KIKKAWA (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties) as the MC taking questions on the presentations from the audience and settling on the proposed ways of sharing information using art magazines as a topic. In addition, Mr. Kikkawa mentioned how there has been steady progress regarding international information sharing among art magazines, and he introduced the efforts of the Institute, such as (a) a joint project with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures to build a database of Japanese fine arts literature mentioned in European magazines; (b) providing metadata of “Mizue” published in the Meiji era for the Getty Research Portal operated by the Getty Research Institute; and (c) uploading “The Bijutsu Kenkyu (The Journal of Art Studies)” and “Yearbook of Japanese Art” on JAIRO, operated by the National Institute of Informatics.
The seminar, which functioned as a site to exchange valuable information, attracted 80 persons involved in archive operations at art museums, universities, and publishing and other companies. Related to the presentation by Mr. Mori, a book editorially supervised by him and containing information on art magazines from the Meiji era through the pre-war period of the Showa era, will be published soon by TOKYO BIJUTSU Co., Ltd. titled “Overview of Japanese Art Magazines 1867-1945” (temporary title).
Left: Yoshida Yoshie Collection (after treatments applied at Conservation Center)
Right: Collection’s call label
UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library
The Library of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, held a symposium on February 20th to commemorate the opening of the Yoshida Yoshie Collection―a collection of materials on Yoshida Yoshie donated to the library. Kikkawa from the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties took this opportunity to visit the UCLA Library system’s sections and units related to special collections (archives). Accompanied by Tomoko Bialock, Japanese Studies Librarian of the university, Kikkawa made a tour of the East Asian Library (second floor of the Charles E. Young Research Library), Special Collections (basement of the same library building), Conservation Center (Powell Library), and the Southern Regional Library Facility. During the tour, Kikkawa met with specialists in charge of conservation treatments, creation of finding aids, digitization of individual items, and long-term preservations, who explained to him how to select, accept and conserve special collections and how to allow library users to access them, by using the Yoshida Yoshie Collection as a case study. He also discussed and exchanged information with each specialist about the situation surrounding special collections in Japan in the field of art. Through the tour of the UCLA Library, a library of one of the largest universities in the U.S., which accepts an enormous number of special collections in a variety of genres, including those on politicians, historians and literary figures, Kikkawa learned firsthand about its sophisticated system of accepting materials into special collections, and about the job specialization that allows each staff member to exercise his or her expertise. This visit provided him with an opportunity to realize once again the differences between the U.S. and Japan in terms of structural factors, including the arrangement of staff and the budget size allocated to special collections. A report of this visit will be presented and shared with relevant individuals and parties at a seminar to be held in May by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems.
