1930's - Rediscovery of 20th Century Japanese Art lll

4 September - 7 November 1999

Hours: 9:30a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

This is a 3rd exhibition of the series Rediscovery of 20th Century Japanese Art, follwoing 1910's and 1920's, which tries to grasp various aspects of Japanese Arts including both the so-called high arts and the applied arts, limited to each decade of the 20th century.

1930's in Japan, beginning of Showa era, is characterized by a maturation of modern city culture. Radical avant-gardism of previous decade calms down, and so-called modernness and traditionalism simultaneously come to the fore. There prevails hedonistic atmosphere, but at the same time stalks a premonition of the war to come.

This exhibition consists of following parts;

1. Rediscovery of tradition

2. Maturation of modernism

?@1. Signs of new Nihonga (Japanese modern painting by traditional technique)

?@2. Flexion of avant-garde

1. Floating images
2. Metaphor of city
3. Narrative of things

?@3. Photography as eye of machine

1. Furrow of modernism
2. Japan as subject
3. And continent
4. Developpement of graphic construction

3. Crossing of found tradition and modernism

1. Modernist architecture and what is Japanese
2. Modernism and tradition in industrial crafts
3. Found tradition of handicrafts
4. Advent of book culture

4. City and countryside

Installation views

1st room

2nd room

3rd room

4th room

gallery