Best Exhibitions Starting in July 2023
From left to right: “Light: Works from the Tate Collection” (The National Art Center, Tokyo); Minoru Nomata “Continuum” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery); “The Infinite World of Japanese Dolls: From Religious Icons to Works of Art” (The Shoto Museum of Art)
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Tokyo Art Beat presents a selection of the best exhibitions opening in June 2023. If you bookmark the exhibitions on the TAB website or TAB app, you will never miss the openings and closings.
- The Infinite World of Japanese Dolls: From Religious Icons to Works of Art (The Shoto Museum of Art)
- Tadaoto Kainosho: Crossing Boundaries in Nihonga, Theater, and Film (Tokyo Station Gallery)
- Imaged and Imagined: Spain Seen through Prints from Japanese Collections (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
- Minoru Nomata “Continuum” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
- Tokyo Gendai (Pacifico Yokohama)
- Light: Works from the Tate Collection (The National Art Center, Tokyo)
- Material, or (21_21 Design Sight)
- David Hockney Exhibition (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
- How I Feel is Not Your Problem, Period. (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
- Shin Japanese Painting: Revolutionary Nihonga (Pola Museum of Art)
- Provocative Relationship ＝ Moriyama Daido × Nakahira Takuma (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
- Exhibition of My Father’s Dragon (Play!)
- Tamana Araki “From the Depths of Ueno, a Story Begins” (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
- Josef Albers Pedagogical Experiments (Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art)
The Infinite World of Japanese Dolls: From Religious Icons to Works of Art (The Shoto Museum of Art)
What comes to mind when one hears the term “Japanese dolls”? From Iki dolls and wax figures to mannequins and figurines, Japanese doll culture is so diverse that it is almost impossible to grasp. The Shoto Museum of Art exhibition introduces Japanese dolls in all their diversity while questioning the spirit that runs through the very foundation of Japanese three-dimensional art.
Venue: The Shoto Museum of Art
Schedule: July 1 - August 27
Tadaoto Kainosho: Crossing Boundaries in Nihonga, Theater, and Film (Tokyo Station Gallery)
Nihonga painter Tadaoto Kainosho was active in Kyoto during the Taisho and early Showa Period. Although highly acclaimed in the prewar art world, he stopped painting around 1940 and moved into the film industry. This exhibition is the first full-scale retrospective of Kainosho’s work at a museum in Tokyo in 26 years since 1997. A full range of Kainosho’s works and materials will be displayed, including famous paintings, scrapbooks, photographs, sketchbooks, videos, film costumes, posters, and more.
Venue: Tokyo Station Gallery
Schedule: July 1 - August 27
Imaged and Imagined: Spain Seen through Prints from Japanese Collections (National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo)
Many of the images we associate with Spain were created by visitors to the country in the 19th century. The important medium that shaped and distributed these images was prints. Focusing on the historical development of Spanish prints from the 17th century through Goya, Picasso, Miró, and Tàpies, as well as 19th-century prints by British and French artists such as Delacroix and Manet, this exhibition explores how “images” of Spanish culture and art were created and transmitted.
Venue: National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo
Schedule: July 4 - September 3
Minoru Nomata “Continuum” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery)
Minoru Nomata’s paintings are characterized by a unique world that cannot be described as an imaginary scene but as an unreal world connected to reality. His solo exhibition at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery will feature a variety of his work, ranging from his earliest to the most recent works.
Venue: Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Schedule: July 6 - September 24
Tokyo Gendai (Pacifico Yokohama)
“Tokyo Gendai” is a new international art fair opening this summer. Taking place at Pacifico Yokohama for three days from July 7 to 9, it is the first fair in Japan to be granted permission to use the entire space as a bonded area. Highlights include Ryuichi Ohira’s new large-scale installation, a program featuring contemporary Japanese women artists, and panel discussions. See the latest news article for details. And don’t miss the “TENNOZ ART WEEK,” held in conjunction with the fair from July 7 to 10.
Venue: Pacifico Yokohama
Schedule: July 7 - July 9
Light: Works from the Tate Collection (The National Art Center, Tokyo)
Carefully selected from the collection of Tate Modern in the UK, this exhibition features works related to “light” from the end of the 18th century to the present. On display are approximately 120 works, including pieces by “painter of light” Joseph Mallord William Turner, landscape painter John Constable, Claude Monet, experimental works by László Moholy-Nagy, and Bauhaus photographers, and visual experiences by contemporary artists such as Bridget Riley, James Turrell, and Olafur Eliasson. See the news article for more details.
Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Schedule: July 12 - October 2
Material, or (21_21 Design Sight)
21_21 Design Sight presents an exhibition focusing on the process of making everyday products. Exhibition director Satoshi Yoshiizumi is known for his innovative designs from a unique perspective developed through self-initiated research projects. The exhibition proposes that the meaning of designed objects should be derived from an open dialogue with the raw materials that form them.
Venue: 21_21 Design Sight
Schedule: July 14 - November 5
David Hockney Exhibition (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents the largest-ever solo exhibition in Asia devoted to the British artist David Hockney, one of the most innovative artists of the postwar era. This retrospective exhibition will feature approximately 100 selected works, including early works produced in California in the 1960s, recent large paintings of his native Yorkshire landscape, and a 90 meters-long new work he drew in Normandy during the lockdown.
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Schedule: July 15 - November 5
How I Feel is Not Your Problem, Period. (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo)
Opening on the same day as the “David Hockney Exhibition,” “How I Feel is Not Your Problem, Period.” aims to address the difficulties of life that teenagers may feel and proposes to reflect on various unanswerable questions through contemporary art. The works of five artists: Shigeo Arikawa, Makiko Yamamoto, Atsushi Watanabe (I’m here project), Riki Takeda, and Kayako Nakashima, will explore the ways we think about and understand people we don’t know.
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Schedule: July 15 - November 5
Shin Japanese Painting: Revolutionary Nihonga (Pola Museum of Art)
On a visit to Japan, the art historian Ernest Fenollosa referred to all the paintings he encountered as “Japanese paintings.” This term was translated by a Japanese interpreter as Nihonga, leading to the concept of nihonga becoming widespread in Japanese society. This exhibition reexamines leading Nihonga figures from the Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa eras and the diverse practices of artists currently exploring the nature of Japanese paintings.
Venue: Pola Museum of Art
Schedule: July 15 - December 3
Provocative Relationship ＝ Moriyama Daido × Nakahira Takuma (Museum of Modern Art, Hayama)
Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, presents an exhibition of two photographers who have left a significant and unique mark on the history of Japanese photography - Takuma Nakahira and Daido Moriyama. The two met at 26 and worked at the legendary photography magazine “Provoke.” In addition to rare magazines, photo books, and vintage prints from the 1960s to the 1980s taken in Kanagawa Prefecture, the exhibition will also feature prints and videos newly produced for this exhibition.
Venue: Museum of Modern Art, Hayama
Schedule: July 15 - September 24
Exhibition of My Father’s Dragon (Play!)
“My Father’s Dragon” is a 1948 children’s novel by Ruth Stiles Gannett following the story of Elmer, who runs away to Wild Island to rescue a baby dragon. The exhibition will feature over 130 rare original drawings and sample books created over 70 years ago. In addition, four interactive exhibits will be installed in the exhibit hall, allowing visitors to experience Elmer’s adventures and play in the world of the picture book.
Venue: Play!
Schedule: July 15 - October 1
Tamana Araki “From the Depths of Ueno, a Story Begins” (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum)
Tamana Araki is known for her work that combines wonky cuteness with spine-chilling sensations. For this exhibition, in addition to the prints full of poetic sentiment and her previous interactive installations, Araki will create a large-scale installation inspired by the memories stored on the venue’s grounds in Ueno. Through viewing experiences prompted by richly narrative artworks, the exhibition will explore the value of everyday life.
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Schedule: July 22 - October 9
Josef Albers Pedagogical Experiments (Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art)
As a teacher at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College, Joseph Albers trained numerous influential artists, and as an artist, he is known for his abstract paintings with colored surfaces. This exhibition will feature Albers’ work, works by his students, and photographs and videos of his classes. This is the first retrospective of Albers’ work in Japan, and it explores Albers from both sides, as a creator and a teacher.
Venue: Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art
Schedule: July 29 - November 5
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