Museum announces shortened viewing hours for “Ancient Egypt” exhibition

Due to the Japanese government’s declaration of national emergency in response to the ongoing pandemic, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum has temporarily altered viewing hours for the exhibition, “Ancient Egypt—The Creation of the World.” The exhibition will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with admission closing at 3:30 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays and if a national holiday falls on a Monday, then the following day will be closed.

The “Ancient Egypt—The Creation of the World” exhibition features some 130 works selected with meticulous care from the superlative collection of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, which belongs to the famed Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island. By viewing these artifacts and aided by the use of short animated films, viewers are invited to delve into the many profound allegories embraced by one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Notice of changes to museum operating hours

Due to the Japanese government extending its declaration of national emergency in response to the ongoing pandemic, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum has temporarily altered its opening hours as follows:

Open: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. (Reception closes at 3:30 p.m.)
Closed: Mondays

Please note that the museum will be closed an hour earlier than the operating hours indicated on posters and flyers. The change of opening hours will be announced on our website, official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as on our LINE account. Also, visitors may be asked to wait outside the venue in order to ensure social distancing and related pandemic safety protocols.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Notice of changes to museum operating hours

Due to the Japanese government extending its declaration of national emergency in response to the ongoing pandemic, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum has temporarily altered its opening hours as follows:

Open: 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. (Reception closes at 3:30 p.m.)
Closed: Mondays

Please note that the museum will be closed an hour earlier than the operating hours indicated on posters and flyers.
The change of opening hours will be announced on our website, official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as on our LINE account. Also, visitors may be asked to wait outside the venue in order to ensure social distancing and related pandemic safety protocols.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Museum releases new research work on Tavola Doria

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum announced the publishing of Ushinawareta daihekiga no kioku (tentative English translation: “Remembering the Lost Great Mural”), an academic study in Japanese focusing on the “Tavola Doria,” an oil painting believed by some to portray central portion of “The Battle of Anghiari,” the largest mural project that Leonardo da Vinci ever undertook. Both works are steeped in mystery and fascination and the source of some controversy.

TFAM donated the “Tavola Doria” to the Italian government in 2012 and the work is currently owned by the renowned Uffizi Gallery. Following its donation, the painting has been shown to large public audiences in Japan and Italy. Scientific research on the “Tavola Doria” has been ongoing, with findings by some of the foremost authorities in the field being published.

Ushinawareta daihekiga no kioku features reports from global experts on art restoration and conservation, as well as the most recent thought essays, dissertations and other relevant studies from Italy and Japan. The book is slated for release in Japanese on April 12 and available on Amazon Japan.

A TFAM work by Turner to be shown at Tate Gallery exhibition

“Helvoetsluys; the City of Utrecht, 64, Going to Sea,” a painting by the celebrated Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) belonging to the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection, will be on display at the Tate Gallery exhibition “Constable: A History of His Affections in England” held at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo from February 20.

Turner’s work was originally shown alongside “The Opening of Waterloo Bridge” by John Constable (1776-1837), renowned for his groundbreaking landscape paintings, at an exhibition organized by Britain’s Royal Academy of Arts in 1832. Turner and Constable were rivals in their genre and when the Royal Academy chose to exhibit their works next to each other, the artists were allowed to apply their final brushstrokes before the grand opening. At the last minute, Turner added a red buoy to his largely monochromatic “Going to Sea,” to which Constable later wrote, “He has been here and fired a gun.” This is the first time that the two pieces will be shown side by side in Japan.

The episode was recorded in Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, which was authored by fellow painter Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859), a work that also belongs to the TFAM Collection and be on display at the exhibition. “Constable: A History of His Affections in England” will run until May 30. For further information, click on the link: https://mimt.jp/constable/

“A Dress In A Picture, A Picture Of A Dress” opens at museum

On February 13, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum premiered at its Main Museum Exhibition Gallery “A Dress In A Picture, A Picture Of A Dress,” an exhibition organized in close collaboration with the Kobe Fashion Museum, the first national institution in Japan dedicated to the history and evolution of fashion. The exhibition features paintings and photographs of subjects in the 18th to 20th centuries dressed in various finery from the TFAM collection displayed alongside apparel and dress ornaments corresponding to that specific era provided by the Kobe Fashion Museum, enabling visitors to explore the world of fine art from a unique new prism.

Concurrently, the “Fashion in Photography: Evolving Faces, Evolving Places” exhibition will be held at TFAM’s New Wing Permanent Gallery 6 and 7. Drawing extensively on our extensive photography collection, the exhibition with a sweeping perspective of fashion, from its earliest daguerreotype roots to modern-day “mode” stills that first appeared in postwar Japan and remain popular to this day. Among the works on display are opulently dressed European gentility of the 19th century and the glitterati of the day, along with rare photos of Japanese clad in both traditional attire as well as Western wear as the country transitioned from a feudal to modern society.

The “A Dress In A Picture, A Picture Of A Dress” exhibition will run until May 9 while “Fashion in Photography: Evolving Faces, Evolving Places” will close on May 23.

Please note that TFAM has instituted strict coronavirus safety protocols and that our theater, library and Kids’ Room will therefore be closed to the public.

“Those Adorable Animals” exhibition premieres

On December 8, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum opened the “Those Adorable Animals—Through the Lens of the World’s Pioneering and Premier Photographers,” an exhibition comprised of some 90 works from the museum’s permanent photography collection. Given the pandemic, visitors are asked to cooperate with TFAM safety protocols at this time. The exhibition will remain open until January 24, 2021.

A brief message of gratitude to our supporters

November 3 marks the 38th anniversary of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, which was founded as both bridge and portal to the world, its mission to promote art and culture for all people to enjoy through exchange and international partnerships with likeminded institutions worldwide. Our anniversary thus stands as a milestone for which we extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all of you who have shared our vision and endorsed our work over the years. We look forward to your continued patronage and support going forward as we remain true to our mission.

TFAM opens “This Is Japan,” Da Vinci exhibitions

On September 1, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum opened its special autumn exhibition, “This Is Japan In Tokyo,” and the “Zokei Da Vinci Project: Realization of the Dreams of Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)—500th Memorial Exhibition.” TFAM had not held an exhibition for public viewing since March 2 this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exhibition “This Is Japan In Tokyo” can be a culmination of the “Eternal Treasures of Japanese Art” exhibition series that has been held 24 times in 15 countries and one territory at the request of governments and cultural agencies worldwide. The exhibition features 93 paintings, ukiyo-e woodblock prints, lacquerware, katana swords and samurai armor, among others. Among the exhibition’s highlights is the use of virtual reality enabling viewers to “experience” specially selected items firsthand.

In the New Wing Permanent Galleries 6-8, the Da Vinci exhibition developed by the Tokyo Zokei University is on display, a uniquely fascinating project that attempts to complete 16 works left uncompleted by the Italian master while tracing the penetrating insights and transcendent creativity he possessed over a lifetime.

Both exhibitions will be held until November 29. Still and video photography will be permitted for all but selected “This Is Japan” items, although the use of flashes and tripods will not be allowed.

Viewers should also note that the Museum Theater, Library and Kids’ Rooms will be closed as TFAM will be strictly following pandemic safety protocols during the exhibitions’ showings. Please read “Notice and Request for Visitors” before visiting TFAM.

TFAM database uploaded to Japan-Search portal

On July 28, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, working with The Japanese Council of Art Museums, uploaded the proprietary database of its art collection to the beta version of Japan-Search, a digital imagery portal to serve as a “gateway to Japan” for users around the world. Until now, Japan-Search, which is set for official release on August 25, had only featured databases of national art museums. TFAM and the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art are the only non-public institutions to take part in the portal at this time.

On the occasion of our Japan-Search initiative, TFAM is pleased to report that it will formally waive intellectual property rights on the digital images of its collected works posted on the TFAM website at this time, making them part of the public domain. We made the decision in the hope of making our collection more accessible to a larger audience to appreciate.