Yokohama Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
Yokohama Museum of Art founded in 1989, is located in the futuristic
Minato Mirai 21
district of Yokohama
city next to the Yokohama Landmark Tower
, the tallest building in Japan
.
ists including Constantin Brâncuşi
, Paul Cézanne
, Salvador Dalí
, Jimmy Ernst
, René Magritte
, Henri Matisse
, Ossip Zadkine
, and Pablo Picasso
. Dada
ist and Surrealist
works are especially well-represented.
The museum also features work by important Japanese
artists, especially those with connections to Yokohama such as Imamura Shiko, Kanzan Shimomura, and Chizuko Yoshida
. Other artists whose work has appeared at the museum include Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Yasumasa Morimura
and Lee Ufan
, the Japanese architect
who won the 1987 Pritzker Prize
for architecture
. The structure is described as an "attractive and spacious building " that is "airy and well-lit".
The museum's main hall is 18 meters tall and is open to the second and third floors. A glass
ceiling allows natural light into the space. Louver
s control the light levels. It has supurb acoustics, is often used for new art projects and cultural events, and is said to be a "particularly impressive" example of modern architecture
.
The building is apportioned as follows:
Sakuragicho Station
provides to public transportation access to museum and the surrounding area by way of the Minatomirai Line and the Yokohama Municipal Subway Line
.
Futurism
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...
Minato Mirai 21
Minato Mirai 21
, often shortened to Minato Mirai or MM is a large urban development in Yokohama, Japan. Minato Mirai 21 area is designated for new urban center planned to connect city's traditional center of Kannai and Yokohama Station area....
district of Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
city next to the Yokohama Landmark Tower
Yokohama Landmark Tower
The is the tallest building and 3rd tallest structure in Japan, standing high. It is located in the Minato Mirai 21 district of Yokohama city, right next to Yokohama Museum of Art. Work on the building was finished in 1993. It has the highest observation deck in Japan.The building contains a...
, the tallest building in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
The collections
The museum has works by many influential and well-known modern artModern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
ists including Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
, Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Jimmy Ernst
Jimmy Ernst
Jimmy Ernst was an American painter born in Germany.-Early life:Jimmy Ernst was born in 1920 in Cologne, Germany, the son of surrealist painter Max Ernst and Luise Straus, a well-known art historian and journalist. His parents divorced in 1922 and Ernst staying with his mother in Cologne...
, René Magritte
René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte[p] was a Belgian surrealist artist. He became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images...
, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Ossip Zadkine
Ossip Zadkine
Ossip Zadkine was a Belarusian-born artist who lived in France. He is primarily known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs.-Early years and career:...
, and Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
. Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
ist and Surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
works are especially well-represented.
The museum also features work by important Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
artists, especially those with connections to Yokohama such as Imamura Shiko, Kanzan Shimomura, and Chizuko Yoshida
Chizuko Yoshida
is a Japanese artist. She is a modernist, whose work reflects the development of art in Japan following World War II.She is also important as the middle link in the succession of three generations of women artists in the widely recognized Yoshida family. She is the wife of artist Hodaka Yoshida...
. Other artists whose work has appeared at the museum include Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Yasumasa Morimura
Yasumasa Morimura
Yasumasa Morimura is a Japanese appropriation artist. He was born in Osaka and graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts in 1978...
and Lee Ufan
Lee Ufan
Lee Ufan is a Korean artist and academic, honored by the government of Japan for having "Contributed to the development ofcontemporary art in Japan."-Career:...
Special exhibits
- In 2004 the museum hosted a major Marcel DuchampMarcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
exhibition entitled "Marcel Duchamp and the 20th Century Art". The exhibit attracted a long list of corporate sponsors including Asahi ShimbunAsahi ShimbunThe is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
, Dai Nippon Printing, Japan AirlinesJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
, Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Kanagawa Shimbun, Keihin Electric Express RailwayKeihin Electric Express Railway, also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. means the Tokyo - Yokohama area. The company's railway...
and Television KanagawaTelevision Kanagawais an independent television station in Japan serving Kanagawa Prefecture and parts of the Greater Tokyo Area with favorable reception. The station was founded on April 20, 1971 and began broadcasting on April 1, 1972...
.
- Also in 2004, the museum hosted "Paradise Lost: The Politics of Landscape (1870-1945)", an exhibition described as an "attempt to show the changing nature of landscape expression in paintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
as practiced in EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Japan, and the East AsiaEast AsiaEast Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
during the seventy years from the age of ImpressionismImpressionismImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
through the end of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
."
- In 2005, the museum hosted "MasterpieceMasterpieceMasterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
s from the Louvre Museum: 19th Century FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
PaintingPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s – from NeoclassicismNeoclassicismNeoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
to RomanticismRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
". The exhibit was arranged in cooperation with the Louvre and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and MusicTokyo National University of Fine Arts and Musicor is one of the oldest and most prestigious art schools in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju, Adachi, Tokyo...
.
- In 2006, the museum featured a special exhibit entitled " Connecting the World through Sculpture" featuring the work of Isamu NoguchiIsamu Noguchiwas a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, Japanese AmericanJapanese Americanare American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
artistArtistAn artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and landscape architectLandscape architectureLandscape architecture is the design of outdoor and public spaces to achieve environmental, socio-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and geological conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions...
.
- In 2008, the museum is featuring an exhibition of images from the goth subcultureGoth subcultureThe goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
entitled "Goth: Reality of the Departed World". The exhibit includes features works by Avant-gardeAvant-gardeAvant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
artists such as Dr LakraDr LakraDr Lakra is an artist and tattooist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Apart from tattooing, his art involves embellishing found images and objects—for instance, dolls, old medical illustrations, and pictures in 1950s Mexican magazines—with macabre or tattoo-style designs.He has shown work internationally...
and Pyuupiru.
The building
The building which houses the Yokohama Museum of Art was designed by Kenzo TangeKenzo Tange
was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. Tange was also an influential protagonist of...
, the Japanese architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
who won the 1987 Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
for architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. The structure is described as an "attractive and spacious building " that is "airy and well-lit".
The museum's main hall is 18 meters tall and is open to the second and third floors. A glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
ceiling allows natural light into the space. Louver
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
s control the light levels. It has supurb acoustics, is often used for new art projects and cultural events, and is said to be a "particularly impressive" example of modern architecture
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
.
The building is apportioned as follows:
- First Floor
- lectureLecturethumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
hall - parking garage
- lecture
- Second Floor
- galleriesArt galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
(including the Grand Gallery described above) - Children's Workshop (consists of a multipurpose studio, a craftArts and craftsArts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
studio and an audiovisual studio for use by children ages 4 to 12) - restaurantRestaurantA restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
serving French cuisineFrench cuisineFrench cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France... - museum storeGift shopA gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....
(sells postcardPostcardA postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
s and other goods featuring art in the museum, framed paintingsPicture frameA picture frame is a decorative edging for a picture, such as a painting or photograph, intended to enhance it, make it easier to display, or protect it.-Construction:...
, art supplies, etc.)
- galleries
- Third Floor
- Additional galleries (include a photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
gallery) - Art Archive Center (a quiet and spacious study room with a collection of Japanese and foreign art art books, art catalogs, and art magazineMagazineMagazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s; also has facilities to make photocopies and conduct on-line searchesWeb search engineA web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
) - Citizen's Workshop (used for lectures and study groups as well work in flat media, three-dimensional media, and printmakingPrintmakingPrintmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
)
- Additional galleries (include a photography
Sakuragicho Station
Sakuragicho Station
, is a railway station located in Naka Ward, Yokohama, Japan.-Lines:Sakuragichō Station is served by the following lines.*East Japan Railway Company**Keihin-Tōhoku Line / Negishi Line*Yokohama Municipal Subway**Blue Line -Station layout:...
provides to public transportation access to museum and the surrounding area by way of the Minatomirai Line and the Yokohama Municipal Subway Line
Yokohama Municipal Subway
is the metro network in the city of Yokohama, Japan, south of Tokyo In Kanagawa pref. It is operated by Yokohama City Transportation Bureau, and is operated as two lines, though 3 continuous lines exist.-Lines:Line 1 and 3 are operated as a single line...
.
External links
- Yokohama Museum of Art (in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) - Yokohama Museum of Art (in JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
)