Collaborative event with IKEA is now open

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum exhibition “Pippi Longstocking and the World of Astrid Lindgren” is now holding a collaborative event with IKEA, the furniture megastore based in Sweden.

IKEA’s outlet in Tachikawa, Tokyo, is holding a “storytelling” workshop every Sunday for the month of August. Due to popular demand, the store will be holding additional workshops on September 8, 15 and 22. Other activities, including a Pippi puzzle game and photo shoots before a Pippi cutout, will also be offered daily.

In addition, IKEA is providing color books and toys to entertain infants at TFAM’s Children’s Corner.

Lobby transformed into planetarium

As part of its annual Golden Week program, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum erected an inflatable “air dome” in its first-floor lobby. Six meters in diameter, the dome served as a planetarium to entertain visitors of all ages who had come to the museum to view “Maki-e : A Kaleidoscope of the Japanese Aesthetic—Discovering by Monocle the Beauty Underlying the Beauty of Lacquer Art” during the weeklong holidays.

Hachioji elementary school students visit museum

On Friday, January 13, 110 fourth graders from Komiya Elementary School in Hachioji City toured the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum as part of their art appreciation course. The ten-year-olds viewed “From TFAM’s Collection: One of Japan’s Largest-Ever Exhibitions of Western Paintings,” which features 275 works. The museum offers tours free of charge to nearby schools as part of its community outreach initiative.

Similar tours were held for students and faculty of the Kanagawa Prefectural School for the Disabled in Tsukui on January 31, as well as for Miyakami Elementary School on February 2 and Yugichuo Elementary School two days later.

Museum opens ‘Thomas Edison’ exhibition

On July 8, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum opened the “Thomas Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park and His Exhibition” for its annual summer break special for schoolchildren. The exhibition features multimedia presentations of the life and legacy of the famed American inventor and scientist, as well as displays of his inventions.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is an operational 1926 Model A Ford (photo), a car that surely owes as much to Edison’s words of encouragement as it does to industrialist Henry Ford’s vision and drive. Having first met in 1896 when Ford had yet to make his mark on the automotive world, Edison told Ford, who was a longtime admirer of Edison’s: “Young man, that’s the thing! You have it—the self-contained unit carrying its own fuel with it! Keep at it!” Their friendship would last for more than 30 years, until Edison’s passing in 1931.

TFAM Holds Gallery Talk Event

On January 5, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum hosted its tenth Gallery Talk, an event hosted by a TFAM curator introducing the highlights of the museum’s latest exhibition that has been held on nine previous occasions. The Gallery Talk in this case was on “Contemporary Art of a Century Ago” exhibition featuring modern European artists who contributed to a groundbreaking exhibition held in New York in 1913. The event aims to bring viewers closer to art and art history.

TFAM Holds Workshop on Collages

On January 6, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum hosted a special workshop for participants to create collages of their own design using colored paper, cloth ribbons, magazines, pens and other materials on a single sheet of drawing paper.

The workshop was held in conjunction with the winter break for schoolchildren, but was open to people of all ages, from infants to the elderly.

TFAM is taking requests for participants for the next workshop, which will be held during the spring break.

TFAM to Hold Contemporary Art of a Century Ago Exhibition

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum extends its warmest greetings on the New Year.

On January 4, TFAM will hold Contemporary Art of a Century Ago, an exhibition introducing the works of renowned European artists and sculptors who contributed to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that opened at a U.S. Army armory in New York City. Organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, the exhibition, held 100 years ago, helped reshape art in America. The TFAM exhibition celebrates the century-old event and the European masters of modern art who proved instrumental to its success.

TFAM Holds Gallery Talk

On November 3, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum held a Gallery Talk event, drawing some 40 visitors of all ages. An interactive version of our docent service in which visitors are encouraged to actively engage a curator with questions and comments while explaining exhibited works at TFAM, Gallery Talk aims to bring audiences closer to art and art history.

Hachioji City Students Tour TFAM

On October 4, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum hosted a group of junior high school students from the Tatemachi Elementary and Junior High School in Hachioji City. Part of TFAM’s ongoing educational services initiative, the 15-year-olds discussed works by François Boucher and Monet, as well as viewed the “The Art of the Napoleonic era” exhibition currently on display at TFAM New Wing’s Permanent Gallery 6-8. The students were also instructed on the proper manners and etiquette when visiting museums.

TFAM Partners in Western Painting Exhibit in Fukushima

A special Tokyo Fuji Art Museum exhibition, “Love, Life and Fellowship: Masters of Western Paintings,” opened at the Fukushima Prefectural Culture Center in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture on September 29. Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato and other dignitaries attended the opening ceremony.

The event, which was hosted by the Fukushima Minpo newspaper in commemoration of its 120th anniversary, featured works by Millet, Renoir and Van Gogh. It was held as a Fukushima prefectural initiative to promote the arts and culture in the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Admission for children under the age of six was free. The exhibition will run until November 4, 2012.