| ■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 lecture being given
The Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems organized a two-day open lecture in the seminar room of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP) on November 4th and 5th, 2016. This year’s seminar marked the 50th milestone. 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 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,2016.
The following four lectures were given this year: “Documentation Activities and Archives – A group of materials on the Year Book of Japanese Art and its transmission (Hideki KIKKAWA, Researcher, Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems) and “Wolves Coming Back into Existence – Yamatsumi Shrine in Iitate Village – On the Restoration of the Ceiling Paintings) (Kyoko MASUBUCHI, Curator, Fukushima Prefectural Museum) on the 4th and “Techniques to Hand Down Forms – Welcome to the backstage of an exhibition) (Chie SANO, Director, Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems) and “Forms to Memorize and Those to Find – Meanings and Value of “Cultural Properties”) (Ken OKADA, Director, Center for Conservation Science) on the 5th. The event drew a total of 159 visitors from the general public over two days, and gained favorable reviews.
The JAL (Japanese Art Librarian) Project is a project started in fiscal 2014the fiscal year before last supported by grants from the Agency for Cultural Affairs and led by the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo with the purpose, among others, of reconsidering the ideal framework of the service to provide information materials on Japanese art and related information by inviting to Japan experts (including librarians and archivists) who handle Japanese-art related materials outside Japan.
The nine invited experts visited related organizations in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara from November 27 to December 10, 2016. The group visited this institute on November 30 and we showed them in the library, etc. book materials, photos taken in the surveys of artworks, files of modern and contemporary artists, and moreover, the materials and projects related to art sales catalogues, and explained how we provide information on the Internet. Furthermore, the group exchanged information and discussed researches with our institute’s researchers and officials of related organizations in Japan. On December 9, the last day of the training, an open workshop was held in the lecture room of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo where the invitees made recommendations regarding the dissemination of information on Japanese art. It became a good opportunity to review how we provide information on cultural assets on a global basis.
Preceding the invitation, Dr. Emiko Yamanashi, Deputy Director General of this institute, had been asked to serve as a Member of the Executive Committee of JAL2016 and gave a seminar on information on Japanese art for graduate students of the University of Pittsburgh. Moreover, as the three-year project was to be completed at the end of fiscal 2016, an “Answer Symposium” (http://www.momat.go.jp/am/visit/library/jal2016/) was held on February 3, 2017, to respond to the suggestions and recommendations made so far.
Sketch of “Sacred Sanctuary (Acupuncture the Earth)” by Roberto Villanueva (1994)
On October 3rd, 2016, Ms. Midori YAMAMURA, who has been working for this Institute since July, 2016, as a foreign fellow from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, made a presentation titled “Acupuncture the Earth in Hiroshima – by Roberto Villanueva, the Last Eco Art in His Career” at the seminar organized by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems.
Roberto Villanueva (1947-1995) is a Filipino artist who implemented art with natural materials involving local residents. He called his approach “Ephemeral Art,” which attracted much attention. In her presentation, Ms. Yamamura defined “Eco-Art History” (historical science where environmental issues and art are handled in an interdisciplinary manner) in Europe and the United States first. After looking back at Roberto’s activities in the 1970s and thereafter together with the 1990 Luzon Earthquake and the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, she presented the background and overview of “Sacred Sanctuary,” a participatory approach in art created by Roberto and realized at “Hiroshima Art Document 1995” by volunteers after he had passed away. Ms. Yamamura studied “Ephemeral Art” in relation with modernism including colonialism and the social scale in the Philippines. Perceiving it in the context of “Eco-Art History” in Asia, she presented the relation between this work and the cultural situation in Japan after the Cold War while further examining the “artistic characters unique to Asia.” As commentators, Mr. Masahiro USHIROSHOJI (Kyushu University) and Mr. Masato NAKAMURA (artist, Tokyo University of the Arts) also joined the seminar, where opinions were exchanged actively.
Her presentation will be reflected in “Mountains and Rivers (without) End: An Anthology of Eco–Art History in Asia,” an anthology to be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Appearance of Palazzo Strozzi, the Venue of the 3-Day Conference
An international conference of art libraries was held in Florence, Italy for three days from October 27th through 29th, 2016. This biennial conference was organized by the Committee of Art Discovery Group Catalogue composed of chief librarians of art libraries in Europe and the United States. This 7th conference attracted almost 100 experts from art libraries throughout the world. The presentations and reports conducted during the session were diverse and fulfilling with a focus on projects for the “Art Discovery Group Catalogue” (http://artdiscovery.net/), a batch retrieval system dedicated to the arts field operated by the organizer, in addition to the latest programs on which such museums of the world are working.
The “Art Discovery Group Catalogue” is a retrieval system born from the platform for art bibliographies (artlibraries.net), in which art libraries from 15 countries participated, after its positive dissolution. This is a joint international project launched in 2014, in which major art libraries of the world join by using WorldCat (https://www.worldcat.org/) operated by the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), a library service NPO in the United States composed of universities and research institutions of the world.
In FY 2016, the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties will provide data on papers placed in Japanese exhibition catalogues for OCLC. As a result, in FY 2017, our data will be retrievable with “WorldCat,” the largest joint list of world libraries, and also with the “Art Discovery Group Catalogue” having a partnership with OCLC.
Carefully watching the international movements on art libraries and art bibliography information in the future, we will clarify the roles this Institute should fulfill for utilization in research projects.
Deliberation at UNESCO Headquarters
The 40th Session of the World Heritage Committee 2016 was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris from October 24th through 26th, 2016. This session was a restart of the deliberation in Istanbul suspended due to the attempted coup d’etat. Three staff members of the Institute attended the session in Paris.
At the session of the Committee, whether minor changes of the sites in the list of world heritage sites should be accepted was deliberated, and the extension of the two pilgrimage routes totaling to 40.1 km of the “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range,” for which Japan had made an application, was approved. As for the temporary list where each member country recommends the registration of its sites with the list of world heritage sites, Japan’s addition of “Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, the northern part of Okinawa Island and Iriomote Island” (Amami & Ryujku) to its temporary list was confirmed. For “Amami & Ryukyu,” preparations toward listing as a world heritage site in 2018 are ongoing, but this confirmation formally enabled Japan to submit a written recommendation. At present, Japan’s temporary list has ten sites including this added one.
The Committee also revised the “Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention,” where the procedures for registration recommendation and reporting on conservation conditions are stipulated. So far, each member country may recommend the registration of two sites per session of the Committee (one of them must be a natural heritage site or a cultural landscape). From the 44th session of the Committee in 2020, the number of sites to be deliberated for each county will become one. At the same time, the number of recommendations deliberated at each session will be reduced from 45 to 35. When the number of submitted recommendations exceeds 35, the ones from the member countries having fewer world heritage sites will be prioritized. Japan already has 20 world heritage sites, so the deliberation may be postponed even if a further recommendation is submitted. Accordingly, the deliberation opportunity available to us will become more and more valuable. Through research on the world heritage sites, we will try to contribute to reinforcement of the foundation to protect cultural heritage overseas, providing useful information for people concerned in Japan in preparing recommendations.
Bronze Black Kite Being Hoisted by the Crane on October 13th
Restored Shochuhi memorial (Photographed by Mr. Takashi OKU)
As repeatedly reported through this activity report, the Committee for Salvaging Cultural Properties Affected by the 2011 Earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku and Related Disasters having its secretariat in this Institute provided rescue activities for numerous cultural properties damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. The Shochuhi memorial (managed by Miyagiken Gokoku Shrine) standing on the site of the inner citadel of Sendai Castle (Aoba Castle) is one of them. The monument was built to console the souls of war victims related to the Second Division in Sendai in 1902. Due to the earthquake, a bronze black kite installed on the stone tower about 15 m in height fell to the ground. Its broken pieces were collected and the main body was relocated as Cultural Properties Rescue Operations by the Committee. After the completion of the Operations in 2014, the Monument was restored as the Disaster-Affected Museum Reconstruction Project in Miyagi Prefecture. The joining work for the broken black kite conducted at Bronze Studio located in Hakonegasaki, Tokyo from FY2015 was finally completed. From October 11th through 17th, 2016, the black kite was installed at its original location in Sendai.
The bronze black kite (4.44 m in height, 5.68 m in width, 3.819 t in total bronze weight), whose original virile appearance with its wings widely spreading was restored in Tokyo after about five and a half years, was transported to Sendai by trailer on October 12th, 2016. On the next day, the bronze statue was installed in the lower front of the stone tower by crane, under the watchful eye of the people concerned, local mass media, and tourists visiting Sendai Castle. The bronze black kite, which had been placed on the top of the tower, was installed at the foot of the tower for security, considering the possibility that it may fall again from the tower top when another large earthquake occurs if placed in its original position. This bronze statue was commissioned, and then produced and cast at Tokyo Fine Arts School (Tokyo University of the Arts, today). Now, you can get a close look at the dynamic appearance of the huge black kite produced with the united efforts of the art school in the Meiji era, although it is now located in a place different from its original position.
The restoration process that has taken over a little more than five years has revealed a lot of unknown facts about the Shochuhi memorial. The boring survey conducted in June, 2016 showed that there is a large hollow surrounded by brick walls inside the tower. Another fact that one of the wings of the black kite had toppled over due to an earthquake on November 3rd, 1936 prior to the Great East Japan Earthquake was confirmed with a newspaper at that time.
According to the restorers of the bronze statue, the restoration process has revealed a variety of techniques made full use of for production. Particularly, the lead and concrete filling the inside of the statue to fix the rail inserted as an iron core connecting the black kite and the stone tower, as well as to balance the black kite in weight, was removed in this restoration for weight reduction. On the other hand, for installation of the restored black kite, steel pipes with different diameters are connected like inserts are used as a support rod inside the bronze statue. To join the steel pipes, lead was cast to fill the gap for fixing. The fixing method used for this statue clarified during the restoration process was applied to this approach. Thus, the Shochuhi memorial has been revived from the earthquake damage by utilizing the excellent technique of our predecessors. We sincerely hope that this valuable monument in the Meiji era will be handed down from generation to generation for ever after re-realizing the value of new knowledge obtained during the restoration process.
On-going Seminar
At the 6th seminar in 2016 organized by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems on October 25th, 2016, Koji KOBAYASI, Head of the Trans-Disciplinary Research Section, made a presentation titled “Japanese Lacquerware Motifs and Techniques Prevalent during the Late Keicho Period to the Early Kan-ei Period – Dialog between Painting Materials and Lacquerware Passed Down” from the perspective of material culture history. At this presentation, he compared and studied the contents drawn in the picture of “Maki-e Craftsman” composing a folding screen depicting various craftsmen possessed by Kitain Temple in Kawagoe City as an important cultural property and the same picture shown in one of Maekawa family’s books owned by Suntory Museum of Art as an original picture depicting various craftsmen of Kitain Temple’s so as to reconfirm the conventional view that these pictures were painted in the early 17th century. Then, he regarded it as reasonable to consider the landscape age of “Kabuki Picture Scroll” and “Picture of Play in the Residence (folding screen of Sououji Temple)” stored at the Tokugawa Art Museum as important cultural properties as the 1610s (between the late Keicho period and the early Genna period) and around 1630 (around the early Kan-ei period) respectively from several perspectives not referred to in past theories. In addition, he pointed out the possibility that you may recognize the living conditions of those days drawn fairly extensively and accurately in these genre paintings.
As lacquerware having large vine and wisteria patterns and painted lacquerware using silver powder are often depicted in these pictures, he suggested that these lacquerware patterns and techniques were prevalent in the early 17th century (between the late Keicho period and the early Kan-ei period). He also suggested that the pained lacquerware, lacquerware made for trading with Europeans who visited Japan, and painted lacquerware using silver power with large vine and wisteria patterns passed down to today may be produced in this period.
The relation between the contents/expressions of genre pictures in the early modern period and the historical reality is an unsolved issue due to the diverse views posed by scholars in art history and history. During the argument after the presentation of this research, that issue was referred to, leading to active discussion among the participants.
“Part of the Materials Owned by Masako Yamashita”
The materials related to Kikuji YAMASHITA (1919-1986) previously possessed by his wife Masako YAMASHITA (1926-2014) were donated from a certain person as of September 30th, 2016. Kikuji is one of the artists representing the Showa era. His works and materials, as well as related works, had also been donated to the Itabashi Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, and the Tokushima Modern Art Museum. The materials provided for this Institute had been kept on hand by Masako until she passed away. Their volume is so large that the book racks about 6 m in length are filled with them. These materials include photos Kikuji may have taken, and materials cut off to be used for his works, which help us to research and understand him deeply. Among them, the photos taken during World War II, when he served on active duty, and after the war as an employee working at the Educational Movie Division of Toho are valuable in the study of the modern history of Japan.
The Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems has accepted the archives of modern artists including Taketaro SHINKAI and Hotsuma KATORI to make them available at the Library. We are now organizing these donated materials owned by Masako to make them accessible while giving consideration to private information, privacy or material conservation issues.
On-going 27th Annual Conference of the EAJRS
The annual conference of the EAJRS (European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists) was held at the Central Library of Bucharest University in Romania from September 14th through 17th, 2016. The EAJRS is mainly composed of librarians, university professors, museum and art gallery staff members, and other experts who are stimulating interest in and encouraging research in Japanese studies in Europe. At its annual conference for 2016 titled “International Cooperation between Japanese Studies Libraries,” a wide variety of presentations and reports were made through 11 sessions, including the history of Japanese studies, the history of collecting Japanese materials, the program to dispatch Japanese librarians to overseas, the program to invite overseas Japanese studies librarians to Japan, the latest trends in digital humanities, and the project to conserve old Japanese books. (For more information, please access the website of the EAJRS: http://eajrs.net/.) I made a presentation under the title of “Expansion of Cultural Archives at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP): Providing Contents of The Yearbook of Japanese Art for Global Academic Information Infrastructure” to introduce information transmission projects we have been working on this year, including the provision of data for the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). During the exchange of opinions after the presentation, many people expected us to release our research information accumulated in the Institute. During the term of the conference, lots of exhibition booths were installed by relevant institutions and companies in the lobby of the venue for information sharing and PR activities. At the general assembly held on the final day, it was decided that the next annual conference for 2017 would take place in Oslo, Norway, and the conference ended. With many suggestions on improvement of the accessibility to Japanese cultural property information, attending the conference was a good opportunity for me to think over our archive activities in the large framework of transmitting information on Japanese studies.
Seiki Kuroda and his foster mother, Sadako
Part of a letter from Sadako to Seiki Kuroda dated July 9th, 1886
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP) possesses a number of letters addressed to Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), a Western-style painter who contributed greatly to the foundation of the Institute. As these letters are important materials for understanding his human network, the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems has been working on their transcription and investigation. Among them, there are letters that were exchanged between Kuroda and his family. With the objective of also focusing on such communications with his family, Mr. Jun TANAKA, Research Assistant of the Department, gave a research presentation titled “Transcription and Bibliographical Introduction of Letters to Seiki Kuroda from His Foster Mother, Sadako Kuroda” at the Departmental seminar.
Sadako Kuroda (1842-1904), the wife of Kiyotsuna Kuroda who adopted Seiki as his heir, raised Seiki from his infancy. The letters sent to Sadako from Seiki during his period of study in France had already been transcribed and published in “Diary of Seiki Kuroda” (Chuo Koron Art Publishing Corporation, 1966). At this seminar, over 70 letters from Sadako to Seiki were introduced. As was the case with the letters from Seiki to Sadako, the letters from Sadako were also written in plain kana characters with colloquial expressions inserted here and there. The contents pertain mostly to family news, telling Seiki, who was studying abroad, the recent events of family members in detail and her husband Kiyotsuna’s intention. She thus seems to have been serving as a mediator between the father and the son. In particular, when Seiki, who had left for France to study law, decided to direct his efforts toward becoming a painter, it is worth noting that Sadako, together with Kiyotsuna, expressed her support by writing, “It’s a very, very good idea” in her letter dated July 9th, 1886. It would be no exaggeration to say that the painter Seiki Kuroda came into being thanks to such emotional support from his foster parents. This seminar has given us an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of family ties in Kuroda’s accomplishments as a painter.
The Istanbul Congress Center, the venue of the session
Plenary session of the Committee
The 40th session of the World Heritage Committee was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from July 10th, 2016. Two staff members of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRICPT) participated in the Committee.
It was the third review of “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier,” which includes the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, as one of components of the property, since the first review was conducted in 2009. As the Advisory Body (ICOMOS) recommended that it be inscribed on the World Heritage List, expectations grew among parties concerned when the review the following day became almost certain to be held in the evening of July 15th. Owing to the repercussions of an attempted coup by the military that occurred on the night of the 15th to the early morning of the 16th, however, the session on the 16th was canceled and it was decided on the 17th that the property be inscribed on the List. To reduce the time for discussion, the Committee Members were not allowed to comment on the sites which were recommend by the Advisory Bodies to be inscribed on the World Heritage List; thus, it was unfortunate that we were unable to hear their opinions about the Architectural Work of Le Corbusier.
From this time, regarding the nominated properties for inscription on the World Heritage List, the States Parties concerned are notified of the interim evaluation made by the World Heritage Panel. On the basis of this evaluation, they can modify their nomination files for the final evaluation. There are different responses by the States Parties. While some withdrew their files, others revised them significantly to prepare for the evaluation. There were cases in which the Advisory Bodies’ negative recommendation was overturned by the Committee and it was decided that the property be inscribed on the List. Given such cases, discussions should be continued on how recommendation and evaluations are made by the Advisory Bodies.
Note that although the session of the committee was scheduled to last until July 20th, it was abruptly adjourned on the 17th because of the coup. The session will be resumed at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris from October 24th to 26th, 2016, where agenda items are due to be discussed, such as minor boundary modifications of the properties already inscribed on the World Heritage List, including “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range,” and a revision to the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention.
Results of a search on OCLC WorldCat website
The National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRICPT) concluded an agreement regarding the implementation of the “project to formulate the basic grounds for sending information on cultural assets centered on fine arts and crafts both domestically and internationally” with the National Museum of Western Art (NMWA), Tokyo on June 27th, 2016. NMWA was established on the basis of the collection of Japanese business tycoon Kojiro MATSUKATA in 1959. The database of its collection has been acclaimed highly as the norm by experts both at home and abroad as it meets the requirements of the study of art history. The purpose of signing the treaty this time around is for NRICPT to step up its efforts at sending information about the cultural assets in Japan that it discloses on the Internet by making use of NMWA’s method of, and experience in, disseminating information. As the first project under the concluded treaty, we plan to provide the global library service organization Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) with the “information on literature listed on the exhibition catalogues published in Japan,” which has been included in the Year Book of Japanese Art that NRICPT compiles and publishes. Through a project like this, we will continue to improve accessibility to information on research on Japanese art overseas.
A subject of gossip by Gyokuro Kurihara 1914
The legend of Kiyohime, Woman by Gyokuyo Kurihara 1921
Tai TADOKORO, the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, gave a presentation entitled “Basic Research on Gyokuyo Kurihara: Her Life and Artworks” in the department on June 28th.
The Japanese-style painter Gyokuyo Kurihara, who achieved success mainly in Bunten (art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education) in the Taisho period, left many paintings of little girls and women based on theatrical plays. While alive, she was thought to be the best female painter in Tokyo and to be even comparable to Shoen Uemura in Kyoto. Today, however, she is not very famous and has been little studied. TADOKORO overviewed her achievements as a painter focusing on the works displayed in exhibitions and then discussed changes in the expression seen in her works and her status in the world of art at that time. As well as materials such as art magazines and exhibition catalogues, photographs of her works appearing in women’s magazines revealed years of creation and a history of display in exhibitions of many of her remaining works. By overviewing her artworks based on this information, TADOKORO found that Gyokuyo changed the subject of her paintings around 1916 from little girls to women based on theatrical plays. TADOKORO also pointed out that strong influence from one of her teachers, Eikyu Matsuoka, can be seen mainly in the colors of the works in her last years. In particular, TADOKORO suggested that she tried a unique, unprecedented expression in the use of gold paint. Besides these creations, it came to light that she had played a major role in the world of painters, especially female painters, at that time through training of many disciples and the foundation of Getsuyokai, an organization of female Japanese-style painters, in cooperation with other female painters.
We invited Mr. Toshiaki GOMI, who is familiar with Gyokuyo, to this seminar as a commentator from the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture. Mr. Gomi gave us valuable information about the current situation of research on Gyokuyo, her remaining works in Nagasaki, and her descendants. In addition, together with Dr.Kaoru KOJIMA at Jissen Women’s University and Ms. Yuri YAMAMOTO at the Sakura City Museum of Art, attendants keenly discussed issues such as female painters and bijinga, pictures of beautiful women.
The exhibition hall –Seiki Kuroda’s atelier is reproduced and sketches of Talk on Ancient Romance and others are on display.
The exhibition hall – From the section that reproduces the mural painting for the entrance of Tokyo Station for the Imperial Family, Wisdom, Impression and Sentiment is viewed.
This year marks the 150th year since the birth of Western-style painter Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924) who made a great contribution to modernizing Japanese art and establishing the Institute. To commemorate this milestone, the Special Exhibition: Seiki Kuroda, Master of Modern Japanese Painting: The 150th Anniversary of His Birth was held at the Heiseikan, Tokyo National Museum from March 23rd through May 15th, 2016. The Institute, which has continued to conduct research and studies on Kuroda since its estublishment, was involved as an organizer in planning and composing the exhibition, resulting in making the exhibition that reflects the outcome of our research.
In this exhibition, over 200 pieces of his works were collected together ranging from those he created while he was studying in France to those sent to Hakubakai that he led and those exhibited at Bunten, to sketches in his late life, not to mention familiar masterpieces such as Reading and Lakeside. Moreover, as an attempt unique to this exhibition, paintings by French painters who influenced Kuroda while he was studying in France and those by Japanese Western-style painters with whom Kuroda got involved were also exhibited. As regards French paintings in particular, we invited Mr. Atsushi MIURA, an expert of French modern art and professor of the University of Tokyo, as a guest curator. French works, including Shepherdess with her flock (owned by Musee d’Orsay) by Jean-Francois Millet whom Kuroda looked up to and Froreal (owned by Musee d’Orsay, deposited in Musee des beaux-arts d’Arras) by Raphael Collin, his mentor, were also on display, providing a good opportunity to compare these with the counterparts by Japanese Western-style painters in order to identify what Kuroda learned from the mainstream of Western art and tried to bring over to Japan.
In the exhibition, while the audience appreciated Kuroda’s original works, real-size images of works that were destroyed by the fire during a war, including Morning Toilette and Talk on Ancient Romance, were also displayed. The mural painting for the entrance of Tokyo Station for the Imperial Family completed in 1914 based on Kuroda’s concept was burnt down in an air raid in 1945, but based on some photographs, a corner was set up to allow the audience to feel the ambience using images of Tokyo Station in those days as well.
The exhibition not only coincided with the cherry blossom viewing season and Golden Week holidays but also received good reviews from various media; as a result, it drew as many as roughly 182 thousand visitors in total. With this exhibition, the Institute believes that Kuroda’s great presence was felt anew. The exhibition offered an opportunity to take a comprehensive view of his career as a painter and life on the one hand. On the other hand, there are still materials yet to be elucidated, including the letters addressed to him that the Institute owns. The Institute will continue to conduct research and studies on Kuroda and publicize the outcome on the Bijutsu Kenkyu (The Journal of Art Studies) and its website.
The seminar is being conducted.
The Institute held a seminar titled “Art Archives – Then and Now” on May 14th. This workshop invited Ms. Birgit Jooss, an archivist and art historian who takes the initiative in contemporary German art archive activities (next head of the Documenta Archive in Kassel, former head of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the German Art Archive, and the Archive, Academy of Arts, Berlin, respectively), in an attempt to bring the significance and issues associated with the archive into question.
On the day, Mr. Fujio Maeda, a guest professor of Chubu University and professor emeritus of Keio University, gave a presentation titled “Art Libraries and Artist Archives: German Tradition in the Iconic Turn” in which he described the history of archives in the nation. In a lecture titled “Art Archives in Germany: An Overview” delivered by Ms. Jooss, she classified typical art archives in Germany into “Archives of Artists’ Personal Papers,” “Regional Art Archives,” “Art Archives Focused on Particular Subjects,” “Museum Archives,” “Archives for Individual Artists” and “Documentation Centers” and described their respective features and backgrounds of establishment. In general discussions, the audience exchanged questions and answers actively with the presenters and issues common to Japan and Germany were also cited and the seminar ended on a high note. Moreover, prior to the seminar, we gave a facility tour to those concerned, including Ms. Jooss, when they inspected the Material Reading Room and the Library, and exchanged views and opinions.
This workshop was co-hosted by the Art Library SIG of the Japan Art Documentation Society (JADS) and the Institute under the sponsorship of the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama and the Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation. It was also an event organized as part of the “Integration of Producer Information through Collaboration between Museums and Research Institutes,” which was given grants-in-aid for scientific research by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JPSP) (Representative Researcher Yuzo Marukawa (National Museum of Ethnology)) as well. Ms. Masako Kawaguchi (The National Museum of Western Art) and Mai Sarai (The Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of the Institute) served as a moderator for the seminar.
Seminar of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems
The Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of the Institute organizes a monthly seminar to consider cultural assets centered on fine arts and crafts not only among staff members but also with researchers invited from other organizations as presenters. For May, it held a seminar on Tuesday, the 31st, when Mr. Masanori Nishiki, an associate fellow of the Tokyo National Museum, was invited to give a presentation titled “Considerations on Seven Yakushi Nyorai Statues at Keisokuji Temple in Shiga Prefecture.”
These wooden statues at Keisokuji Temple that were featured in the presentation have been known as a rare example of existing statues of the type from early on, but it had scarcely been dealt with as a subject of a consideration.
In the presentation, based on the knowledge gained form field investigations of each statues and the recognition that this set of statues are rare examples of the Tendai school, he supposed that the original wooden statues enshrined in Konpon Chudo of Enryaku-ji Temple in Mt. Hiei, while paying attention to the fact that they were statues with no gold leaf gilded. He went on to share his thoughts with the audience based on his recognition that it was a reproduction in the area.
The presentation was followed by a question and answer session, in which seminar participants exchanged views and opinions actively with the presenter.
Part of the papers of Denzaburo Nakamura
We received papers of Mr. Denzaburo NAKAMURA, a researcher emeritus of the Institute (1916-1994), from Mr. Toru Nakamura, a family member of the deceased, as of April 30th. Denzaburo was a researcher on Japanese modern sculpture and held a position at the Institute of Art Research attached to the National Museum (currently, Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of the Institute) from 1947 until he resigned from the post in 1978. He researched on authors of sculpture, such as Auguste Rodin, Morie Ogiwara, Denchu Hirakushi, Taketaro Shinkai and Seibo Kitamura, and also conducted a systematic survey into sculpture organizations that existed in the Meiji period and later, thereby taking the initiative in empirical research in the Japanese history of modern sculpture. On top of these, he was engaged in research on the trends in contemporary art of the times centered on sculpture and stereoscopic molding as well as critiquing, which contributed to authors’ creative activities significantly. The materials that the family member donated to the Institute were: 1) Publications by, and documents related to, the Rokuzan Art Museum; 2) Materials related to Rokuzan Ogiwara; 3) Materials related to Koun, Kotaro and Toyochika Takamura; 4) Materials related to Taketaro Shinkai; 5) Materials related to Nika 70-nenshi (Nika Association, 1985) ; 6) Materials related to the Institute of Art Research and the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo; 7) Materials related to the Cultural Project to Commemorate the Centennial of the Opening of the Country; and 8) Materials related to the Metallplastik aus Japan, each of which is invaluable materials for research on the history of modern and contemporary sculpture.
Today, these archives generated by a certain individual or organization are widely recognized as valuable research resources and in recent years, heated debate has been conducted by those concerned as to how to prevent them from being scattered and lost, put in place an environment to better utilize them and hand them down to succeeding generations. We have received archives built by our former staff members, including Yukio YASHIRO, Jiro UMEZU, Kei KAWAKAMI, Takeshi KUNO, Osamu TAKATA and Ichimatsu TANAKA, positively and organized them better through initiatives, such as “Research and Development for Storage and Use of Record of Investigation into Works by Various Academic Predecessors and Image Materials and Others – Taking over the Perspectives of Art Historians” (Representative Researcher: Atsushi TANAKA, Basic Research (B) 2009-2012), and offered them through the material reading room. We will try our best to make public the papers of Denzaburo NAKAMURA donated around September this year while paying attention to issues associated with personal information, privacy and material preservation.
Yoshimatsu Goseda (right) and Seiki Kuroda
From a commemorative photo of a get-together among Bun-ten exhibitors (“Bijutsu Shinpo” Vol. 12, No. 2 December 1923)
The Institute owns a large number of letters addressed to Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), a Western-style painter who was deeply involved in establishing the Institute. Regarding them as valuable materials that help us look into a network of personal contacts involving Kuroda, the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems has worked on their republication and research, while seeking cooperation from outside researchers. As part of this initiative, Mr. Takuro Tsunoda, a curator of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History, was invited to give a presentation titled “Reading letters addressed to Seiki Kuroda from Yoshimatsu Goseda – Profile, Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and History of Western-style Painting in the Meiji Period” at the seminar of the department held on April 21.
In recent years, Yoshimatsu Goseda (1855-1915), who is one of the leading Western-style painters in the first half of the Meiji period, has been reevaluated and reviewed through exhibitions and studies by Mr. Tsunoda. Yoshimatsu, who grew up in a family of machie-shi (town painters), went to France earlier than Seiki Kuroda and won a prize at a salon, displaying his talent. After returning to Japan in 1889, however, his activities were rather low-profile. Thus, he was treated as a person whose existence has been forgotten in art circles. Mr. Tsunoda’s presentation this time dealt with the details surrounding the latter half of Yoshimatsu’s life, which had not been told very much, through 25 letters that he addressed to Kuroda since 1908. In many of these letters, Yoshimatsu, who was trying to sell his old works to the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, asked Kuroda, who was a professor of the school, to go between. Kuroda replaced the previous generation, including Yoshimatsu, and led the world of Western-style painting in those days. In fact, a great many Western-style paintings that Yoshimatsu created in the early Meiji period while he was in Europe, such as “Ayatsuri Shibai,” were included in the collection at the school, where Kuroda worked, allowing you to make a survey of the trends in Western-style paintings from the early to the late Meiji period. Mr. Tsunoda’s presentation was an attempt to find positive significance in the creation of the history of Western-style painting in the Meiji period from exchanges between Yoshimatsu and Kuroda, which went beyond their respective positions, and reminded us of the importance of these letters that describe the background.
TANAKA Atsushi lecturing on artist KISHIDA Ryusei
As a part of the comprehensive study meeting program for the researchers of the Institute, the lecture meeting of TANAKA Atsushi (Deputy Director General) who was retiring at the end of this fiscal year was held on March 1st. Tanaka has been with the Institute since 1994 and engaged in research study on the contemporary art and published many literatures concerning Japanese modern Western paintings especially in the Meiji and Taisho eras. His books include “TAIYO TO JINTAN: Aspects of Japanese post-impressionism and modernism, 1912-1945” (Brücke Co., Ltd., 2012).
In the lecture titled “The substratum of the modern Japanese art ― with the focus on KISHIDA Ryusei,” the relationship between KISHIDA Ryusei as an artist of Western painting and the collectors surrounding him was viewed and discussed as the “substratum” that had supported his creative work. Tanaka’s view has deep-rooted in his research approach that was adopted in the above literary works and that he has developed over the past years. Furthermore, his lecture using abundant materials based on solid research has revealed that Kishida’s network with SUMITOMO Kanichi who was the eldest son of SUMITOMO Shunsui (the founder of the present Sumitomo Group and a well-known art collector), ODAKA Sennosuke who was a staff member of the Institute of Art Research (the predecessor of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo), and others led the artist of Western painting to become an ardent admirer of the Eastern art such as Ming & Xing-era paintings and Ukiyo-e.
In addition to the Institute’s staff members, the lecture meeting was also attended by many former staff members of the Institute who used to work with Tanaka. A reception was held after the lecture, which was filled with a warm and friendly atmosphere just like that of an alumni reunion.
After retirement, Tanaka will continue to support the Institute as its honorary fellow and a visiting researcher of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems.
The National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo established the Archives Working Group in FY2013 to make further efforts to widely and effectively transmit the results of various studies on cultural properties that the Institute has worked on.
In FY2014, as a part of the efforts above mentioned, a new system was established to organize a vast amount of research information/information resources and facilitate their disclosure. Furthermore, the existing retrieval system for the material database of the Institute was renewed as “TOBUNKEN Research Collections” ( http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/). Users comment favorably that a scope of accessible information has expanded as the retrieval of variety of information related to cultural assets has become facilitated.
In FY2015, with the aim of providing the entire list of research products that have been published by the Institute since its foundation till today, a new page “List of Publications of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo” (http://www.tobunken.go.jp/japanese/publication/index.html ) was added to the Institute’s website. Based on this list of research products, it is planned to sequentially post those research products which can be published on the website (as PDF files etc.). In addition to the Institute’s website, those research products will also be included in the “open access repository” currently being promoted by the National Institute of Informatics, thereby developing a usage environment open to more people.
Nowadays, “opening of academic information on natural science” seems to be entering the new phase, where the Cabinet Office issued the open science policy. The Archives Working Group is planning to hold an active discussion also on how to handle the experimental data, useful illustrations, etc. in the field of natural science that have not been able to be sufficiently included in the paper medium.
