This database is a comprehensive collection of articles from Nihon bijutsu nenkan (Year Book of
Japanese Art), published by the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties (Tobunken).
On June 30, the exhibition ‘Masterpieces from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis’ opened at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (until September 17). The exhibition introduced the museum’s collection of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings while the museum had been closed for a long period of time from April for major renovation work. Vermeer’s ‘Girls with a Pearl Earring’, one of the stars in the collection, was being shown for the first time since it was exhibited at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts in 2000. The exhibition travelled to the Kobe City Museum (September 29 – January 6, 2013). (Japanese)
On October 30, the Japanese government announced six recipients of the Order of Culture and 15 recipients of the Person of Cultural Merit for the fiscal year 2012. In relation to art, art critic TAKASHINA Shūji and nihonga artist MATSUO Toshio were awarded the Order of Culture, and artist as well as author of children’s books ANNO Mitsumasa, nihonga artist NAKAJI Yūjin, and animation film director MIYAZAKI Hayao were awarded the Person of Cultural Merit. (Japanese)
On October 1, the Marunouchi Station Building of Tokyo Station (Important Cultural Property) in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, designed by TATSUNO Kingo and KASAI Manji, which had been restored to its original form of the time when it was completed in 1914, was fully opened. Most parts of the station building were destroyed and burnt down in an air raid in 1945 (Shōwa 20). More than 60 years had passed since the original appearance, with wooden octagonal shaped roofs replacing the domed roofs that were lost during reconstruction work. Restoration work began in 2007 (Heisei 19). The exterior walls as well as the interior and exterior design of the north and south domes were recreated, and the first and second basement floors were newly extended where seismic isolation devices were installed. (Japanese)
The ‘Society for a Design Museum Japan’ was established by fashion designer MIYAKE Issey and, art historian and director of the National Museum of Western Art, AOYAGI Masanori, with the aim of disseminating the importance of design in Japan as well as enhancing opportunities for construction of a national design museum. On November 27, the first public symposium, titled ‘Kokuritsu dezain bijutsukan o tukurō! (Let’s build a national design museum!)’ was held at Tokyo Midtown Hall. (Japanese)
On October 19, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on six buildings to be designated as Important Cultural Properties to TANAKA Makiko, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the former Sado Mining sites (Sado City, Niigata Prefecture), which was developed in the early Shōwa period. In addition to the list, four districts, one of which was the Kanaya-machi district in Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, where townhouses built between the Edo and the early Shōwa periods remain, were also suggested to be the Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings. (Japanese)
On August 29, the awards ceremony of the 13th Biennale Architettura was held in Venice, Italy. In the National Participations category, the Japan Pavilion’s exhibition ‘Architecture, Possible here? Home-for-All’, which focused on the role of architecture in the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake, won the Golden Lion, the highest award. The exhibition introduced the design process of the project ‘Home-for-All’, which was a meeting place that was being constructed by architect ITO Toyo and his team in the affected area of Rikuzentakata, Iwata Prefecture. (Japanese)
On September 3, renovation work began on the Phoenix Hall (National Treasure) of Byōdōin temple in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, for the first time in 56 years. The renovation had been scheduled to be completed by 2014. The roof tiles would be completely replaced; the walls and pillars except for the interior would be repainted red; and the phoenixes (replicas) on the roof and the hōju (sacred jewel) would be gold-plated. (Japanese)
On August 1, rescue operations for cultural properties that had been left behind in the exclusion zone after the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant began. The operation was carried out by the Fukushima Prefecture Headquarters for Salvaging Cultural Properties, which was set up in May 2012, with support from the Committee for Salvaging Cultural Properties Affected by the 2021 Earthquake off the Pacific Coast to Tohoku and Related Disasters (Cultural Properties Rescue Program). Packing was done in August and removal from the Exclusion Zone and storage were conducted from September to November. (Japanese)
On November 13, the 34th Suntory Prize for Social Science and Humanities (sponsored by the Suntory Foundation) announced that, in relation to art, MIZUNO Chiyori was awarded the prize for her monograph, ‘Imēji no chisō (The Strata of Images)’ (University of Nagoya Press) in the Literary and Art Criticism category. (Japanese)
On November 16, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on the following places to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty or Historic Sites to TANAKA Makiko, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes eight places such as Dōjōji temple precincts (Hidakawa-chō and Gobō City, Wakayama Prefecture), which is the setting of the legend of Anchin and Kiyohime, to be designated as Historic Sites; three places such as the Former Sekiyama Hōzō-in temple Gardens (Myōkō City, Niigata Prefecture), to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty; three places such as Hyōtanjima (Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture) to be registered as Registered Monuments; and the Circulation and Traffic Mogami River and scenery of Aterazawa town to be selected as an Important Cultural Landscape. (Japanese)
The Ringa Art Encouragement Prize (organized by the Ringa Art Encouragement Fund), which publicly honors outstanding individuals for their exceptional achievements in the field of art criticism and art history research, announced the winners of the 24th Ringa Art Encouragement Prize. In the Art History Research Division, KURAYA Mika (Chief Curator, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) was awarded for her curated exhibition ‘Undressing Paintings: Japanese Nudes 1880-1945’ and the contribution of her essays to its exhibition catalogue. In the Art Criticism Division, NARIAI Hajime (Curator, Tokyo Station Gallery) for his curated exhibition ‘The World of Ishiko Junzō: From Art via Manga to Kitsch’ that held in 2011 at the Fuchu Art Museum where he previously worked and the contribution of his essays to its exhibition catalogue. (Japanese)
On November 30, the Japan Art Academy (Director: MIURA Shumon) announced that eight new members had been selected to join their ranks for their distinguished artistic achievements. In relation to art, nihonga artist YAMAZAKI Takao, yōga artist IKEGUCHI Chikako, sculptor KANBE Mineo and calligrapher ISHIGE Keidō were selected. It was officially announced by TANAKA Makiko, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on December 15. (Japanese)
On December 10, the winners of the VOCA Prize, which encourages young artists who create two-dimensional artworks, were announced. The Grand Prize of the VOCA was given to SUZUKI Sayaka, who created ‘Ano hi no nemuri wa tashika ni netsu o obiteita’. SHIBATA Mai and HIRAKO Yūichi jointly received the VOCA Encouragement Prize. Ōsaki Nobuyuki and YOSHIDA Shinnosuke jointly received the VOCA Honorable Mention Prize. The Ohara Museum of Art Prize was given to SATŌ Midori. The VOCA exhibition 2013, where the winners’ works were exhibited, was held at the Uemo Royal Museum in Tokyo from March 15 to March 30 in 2013. (Japanese)
On June 15, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on seven places to be designated as Historic Sites and four places to be selected as Important Cultural Landscapes to SHIMOMURA Hakubun, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Ōura Church Precinct (Nagasaki City) and former residence of TAJIMA Yahei (Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture) to be designated as Historic Sites; and steam and hot spring landscape in Beppu (Beppu City, Ōita Prefecture) be selected as Important Cultural Landscapes. (Japanese)
On November 18, the exhibition titled ‘Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde’ opened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (until February 25, 2013). The exhibition introduced the avant-garde experimentation that took place in Tokyo, mainly in 1960s, through works in a variety of media. It was a full-scale exhibition in the context of recent upsurge in interest and research in Japanese post-war art history, particularly in the United States. (Japanese)
Amid the deterioration in the relations between Japan and China following the nationalization of the Senkaku Islands in September, an exchange exhibition between Tokyo University of the Arts and Central Academy of Fine Arts, titled ‘Tōkyo Pekin Gendai āto zhi fei zhi（紙非紙）2012’, which had scheduled to open in October, was cancelled due to difficulties in transporting artworks from China and the visit of participating artists to Japan. Another exchange exhibition of artists from Japan and China, titled ‘Nicchū bijutsu ten’, which had been scheduled to open at the National Museum of China in Beijing on October 23, was also cancelled. (Japanese)
The recipients of the Asahi Prize for the fiscal year 2011 (sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Foundation) were announced. In relation to art, artist YOKOO Tadanori received the prize for ‘creating innovative graphic designs and paintings that always resonate with the times.’ (Japanese)
On September 12, the laureates of the 24th Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu (organized by the Japan Art Association), which publicly honors individual world artists, were announced. In relation to art, the laureates were Cai Guo-Qiang (China) in the Painting category, Cecco Bonanotte (Italy) in the Sculpture category, and Henning Larsen (Denmark) in the Architecture category. (Japanese)
On October 1, the Tokyo Station Gallery, which had been closed since 2006 due to restoration of the Marunouchi Station Building of Tokyo Station, reopened to coincide with the reopening of the station building. Moved to a location almost directly connected to the Marunouchi Station North Exit, the gallery consists of a third-floor exhibition rooms with white walls and a second-floor exhibition room with brick walls. The inaugural exhibition titled ‘Waiting for the First Train’, was held to commemorate its reopening (October 1 – February 24, 2013). (Japanese)
On October 8, the special exhibition titled ‘Ishin no yōgaka Kawamura Kiyoo’ opened at the Edo-Tokyo Museum (until December 2). It examined achievements of KAWAMURA Kiyoo, who produced Japanese-style yōga paintings rooted in Edo culture while studying authentic oil painting techniques abroad. The exhibition consisted of a vast amount of materials donated to the museum by his bereaved family, and also included his works from outside of Japan, such as a painting titled ‘Kenkoku (Founding of the Nation)’ in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay, France. The exhibition travelled to the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (February 9 – March 27, 2013). (Japanese)
