TFAM opens “Monumental Journey” exhibition

On September 19, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum held a ceremony commemorating the opening of the exhibition, “A Monumental Journey to the Far Side of the World: The Art of Renaissance Italy and the Boys of Tensho-Era Japan.” The exhibition is organized in part as an initiative to promote bilateral cultural exchange and celebrates the 150th anniversary of official diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan.

Numerous guests and dignitaries attended the opening ceremony, led by His Excellency Domenico Giorgio, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy to Japan and Commissioner Ryohei Miyata of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs. Shigeo Hasegawa, executive senior advisor of TFAM, was also present.

In addition, Director Eike Schmidt of Italy’s Uffizi Gallery sent a message congratulating the exhibition’s opening.

“A Monumental Journey” features representative works of the Italian Renaissance at a time when four Japanese boys were dispatched to Italy and were granted an audience with Pope Gregory XIII some four centuries ago.

The exhibition will open for public viewing from September 21 to December 3.

Hiroshima museum opens TFAM’s Battle of Anghiari exhibition

On September 10, the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum began showing the “Leonardo da Vinci and The Battle of Anghiari: The Mystery of the Tavola Doria” exhibition organized by the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. Some 260 guests and dignitaries attended the opening ceremony.   The Hiroshima exhibition will also include ten new pieces, the most prominent of them being The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist on loan from the Los Angeles-based Hammer Museum. The exhibition concludes on October 22.

Students from two Hachioji schools visit TFAM

On August 30, third-graders of the Hachioji City Funada Elementary School took part in a field trip to the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum and viewed “The Peter Rabbit™ Exhibition Celebrating The Anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s Birth” and the “From the Renaissance to the 20th Century—500 Years of Western Paintings” exhibition in the Permanent Gallery. The next day, students from the Hachioji City No. 1 Junior High School toured TFAM’s backyard operations, with the 13- and 14-year-olds also viewing the Peter Pan and permanent gallery exhibitions.

TFAM holds special children’s seminar

On August 13, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum invited Tomoyoshi Urushibara, an author of children’s literature and educational commentator, to a special two-part seminar that included a reading of one his works. In the first part, Mr. Urushibara shared his childhood experience of World War II, when his family lost their home in an Allied bombing raid in 1945 and how that served to harden his resolve to work for peace in the years that followed. In the second part, he read from his newly published work, Akarichan no tsugakuro (tentatively translated as “Akari’s school commute”).

Aomori museum holds TFAM Renaissance exhibition

On July 27, the Aomori Museum of Art, a cultural institution operated by the Aomori prefectural government, held “A Monumental Journey to the Far Side of the World: The Art of Renaissance Italy and the Boys of Tensho-Era Japan,” an exhibition that traces Japan’s first official delegation to Europe by introducing various Italian artworks from the Renaissance era.

Among the dignitaries attending the exhibition’s opening ceremony were Director Eike Schmidt of Italy’s Uffizi Gallery and Corrado Molteni, Academic and Cultural Affairs Attache of the Italian Embassy in Japan.

The exhibition will be shown at the Aomori Museum of Art until September 10 and reopen at TFAM in Hachioji, Tokyo, on September 21.

kanazawa museum holds TFAM Japanese art exhibition

On July 28, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, in Ishikawa prefecture, held “Edo Period Paintings—Their Ascendance and Quintessence: Masterpieces by Jakuchu, Shohaku, Okyo and Goshun,” an exhibition organized by the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. The 54-item exhibition includes 45 works from TFAM’s extensive collection of Japanese art.

Uffizi Gallery director visits TFAM

On July 25, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Board of Trustees Chair Kazuhiko Oshida, Director Akira Gokita and others welcomed Director Eike Schmidt of the world-famous Uffizi Gallery in Italy. Among the topics they discussed were reciprocal displays of exhibitions and ways to further advance cultural exchange initiatives between Italy and Japan.

Director Schmidt expressed high hopes for the success of “A Monumental Journey to the Far Side of the World: The Art of Renaissance Italy and the Boys of Tensho-Era Japan,” an exhibition made possible after the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities signed an agreement of long-term cooperation with TFAM in 2012.

The Uffizi director then viewed two exhibitions currently running at TFAM, “From the Renaissance to the 20th Century—500 Years of Western Paintings” and “The Peter Rabbit Exhibition Celebrating The Anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s Birth.”

Peter Rabbit exhibition opens at TFAM

On July 15, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum opened “The Peter Rabbit Exhibition Celebrating The Anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s Birth,” the largest of its kind ever to be held in Japan.

The exhibition commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Helen Beatrix Potter, the English author who developed a lifelong love for nature through her sketches of plants and animals. More than 200 of her illustrations and personal memorabilia are on display.

Children from the local Hachioji elementary and junior high schools took part in the opening ceremony, which was led by TFAM Director Akira Gokita.

TFAM goes 3D with VR viewing

One of the most popular attractions of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum exhibition, “Maki-e : A Kaleidoscope of the Japanese Aesthetic—Discovering by Monocle the Beauty Underlying the Beauty of Lacquer Art,” is the head-mounted virtual reality (VR) display—the first of its kind in Japan—of an antique ink case. And now, visitors can view the ink case in 3D, using a pilot VR unit developed with the technical support of Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd.

TFAM officials pay courtesy call on new Italian ambassador

On May 17, senior representatives of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum paid a courtesy call on the newly appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Italy to Japan, His Excellency Giorgio Sarace, at the Italian Embassy in Tokyo. TFAM Board of Trustees Chair Kenji Harashima and Director Akira Gokita led the delegation.

Ambassador Sarace and the TFAM party spoke on the successful holdings of “Leonardo da Vinci and The Battle of Anghiari: The Mystery of Tavola Doria” and “A Monumental Journey to the Far Side of the World: The Art of Renaissance Italy and the Boys of Tensho-Era Japan,” which the museum organized and hosted. Both sides agreed that such exhibitions served as valuable tools with which to promote stronger bonds of friendship between Italy and Japan, with the ambassador expressing high hopes for further successes in the future.