You’ll never get bored of the museums in Tokyo because they always hold fascinating exhibitions to entertain us. These are the museum exhibitions during May that I explicitly recommend!
- Yumeji’s Taisho Roman-Focusing on Culture and Women 100 Years Ago- (夢二がいざなう大正ロマン ―100年前の文化と女性を中心に―)
-
Have you heard of Taisho Roman(大正浪漫)? This is a famous word referring to the culture/art/ideology during the Taisho period, when traditional and modern cultures blended. It is a period that many Japanese people romanticized, including myself. The exhibition will shed light on the Taisho artist Yumeji Takehisa and the lifestyle and fashion of girls in this period. If you like nostalgic works of art, this is the perfect exhibition! This will be held until 5/29 in Takehisa Yumeji Museum near Tokyo University.
- European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
-
The famous artworks at the Metropolitan Art Museum are here in Japan! These artworks date back from the renaissance period to the 19th century. My favorite piece was the Allegory of Faith by Vermeer. You won’t realize how beautiful the color blue is used in this painting until you see it yourself. Another must-see art is the Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d’Ognes (died 1868). The artwork itself is magnificent, but the frame is an important part of the artwork to look at. The flowers sculptured at the top are a piece of breathtaking artwork worth seeing. This exhibition is held until 5/30 at the National Art Center Tokyo at Roppongi.
- Hokusai, Hiroshige, Yoshida, and Hasui: Landscape of Journey in Japanese Woodblock Prints
-
Landscape paintings were one of the major themes the Japanese painters have been drawing from the past, and this exhibition is all about it. You will be able to see the beautiful nature in all seasons and sceneries from different parts of Japan, expressed using the technique of woodblock prints. If you’re curious about how woodblock prints are made, you should click this YouTube video above to see a woodblock printer in this modern period demonstrate it. This exhibition will be at Tokyo Fuji Art Museum at Hachioji until 6/5. The museum also provides a map of places you could visit around the museum so it may be fun going with your friends!
- Henri Le Sidaner – Henri Martin
-
Impressionism is one style that Japanese people love and know the most, but do you know the artists from the post-impressionism era? Sidnaner and Martin are two great artists from the post-impressionism era, which they are also called the last impressionists. Their artwork includes techniques from the impressionism era mixed with new techniques that were popular during their period, such as symbolism. The exhibition is held until 6/26 at the Sompo Museum of Art in Shinjuku.
- The Greats Masterpieces from the national galleries of scotland
-
At this museum, there will be paintings from the Renaissance period to the late 19th century, brought from The National Gallery of Scotland, one of the museums that collects the finest European artworks. I would recommend this exhibition to those who haven’t been to art museums before, because many of the paintings that are being displayed are works done by great painters that most people would recognize. Also, I am excited about this exhibition because there will be paintings done by Scottish painters, some of which are rarely exhibited in Japan. This exhibition will be held at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno until 7/3.