Grandma Moses
1987

March 1 - March 17, 1987　Isetan Museum, Tokyo
April 22 - May 10, 1987　 Daimaru Museum, Umeda

There are a few Americans who have not heard of or at least seen the work of Anna Mary Robertson Moses, fondly nicknamed “Grandma Moses”. Grandma Moses first began to paint when she was in her 70’s and before her death in 1961 at the grand age of 101 she had created more than 1600 paintings, pictures and embroideries. This first Grandma Moses exhibition in Japan shows 65 works that are filled and illuminated with her love of nature, the changing seasons and life on a farm.

Masters of Naive Art ~Works by Grandma Moses and other Aritsts
1989

March 29 - April 11, 1989　Daimaru Museum Kyoto
April 29 - May 5, 1989　Yamagataya Art Gallery
September 14 - September 19, 1989　Hakata Daimaru Art Gallery
September 21 - October 3, 1989　Tokyo Daimaru Art Gallery

Naive art is art by people who have no formal academic training. This has always existed, but prior to the 20th century, such work was routinely dismissed as inept or awkward. After the works by Henri Rousseau, a French toll collector, received good reputation, naive art started to become a popular style. In the late 20th century, Grandma Moses achieved widespread popularity. In this exhibition, 17 works by Grandma Moses are shown in Japan for the first time. It also exhibits 75 works by 25 artists from France, Yugoslavia, and Haiti, that depicts cityscape, rural landscape, and animals.

Grandma Moses: In Commemoration of the 130th Anniversary of Birth1990

July 1 - July 24, 1990 Isetan Museum (Tokyo)
September 5 - September 17, 1990 Daimaru Museum, Umeda
September 20 - October 2, 1990 Daimaru Museum, Kyoto
October 10 - October 30, 1990 Funabashi Art Forum
November 8 - November 20, 1990 Yokohama Takashimaya Gallery

This exhibition is the second major one-woman presentation of Grandma Moses’ paintings to be mounted in Japan, commemorating the 130th anniversary of her birth. This exhibition also shows her early works, the embroideries.

Tower of Babel: Pieter Bruegel: The Boymans Masterpieces Exhibition1993

October 8 - December 26, 1993 Saison Museum of Art, Tokyo

Boymans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam bears its unusual name in recognition of its indebtedness to two individuals. Unlike other large Dutch museums, the Boymans-van Beuningen does not have a history of national or royal patronage. The same spirit of private enterprise which made the port of Rotterdam the largest in the world has also, with the support of the city, allowed this museum to develop into one of the leading institutions of its kind. The collection consists of artworks from the sixteenth century until present day, which allows the audience to see a part of the Western art history. The museum has had the opportunity of showing itself in all its glory, with forty-nine carefully selected works from its entire collection. This exhibition gives an impression of the rich diversity of the collection of Dutch, Flemish, French and Italian paintings from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century. The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder was exhibition in Japan for the first time.

Grandma Moses
1995

April 19 - May 8, 1995 Daimaru Museum, Umeda
June 3 - July 30, 1995 Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art (Tokyo)
August 30 - September 11, 1995 Shimonoseki Daimaru Art Gallery (Yamaguchi)
October 13 - October 30, 1995 Chiba Sogo Museum of Art

The Rijksmuseum , with the carefully balanced selection from its own collection, considers it an honor to enable the Japanese public to get to know the impressive paintings of the leading Dutch artists of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This exhibition shows works by Josef Israels, Jacob and Willem Maris, Anton Mauve, George Hendrik Breitner, who influenced Vincent van Gogh in his early career, together with the “Self-Portrait” by van Gogh.

From Barbizon to Impressionist School, Boymans Modern Art Masterpiece Exhibition
1995

October 19 - November 28, 1995 Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo
December 16, 1995 - January 21, 1996 The Museum of Art, Kochi
January 26 - February 18, 1996 Shimane Prefectural Museum
February 28 - March 18, 1996 Daimaru Museum, Umeda

This exhibition is composed of about 60 paintings from the collection of Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, which includes finest works by the artists of the Barbizon School, the Impressionism, and the Hague School such as Corot, Monet, Courbet, Renoir, and Van Gogh. This exhibition will provide a wonderful opportunity to get an excellent view of the history of modern landscape painting.

Diversity and Specialization, Seventeenth ?century Dutch Masters from the Mauritshuis
1997

November 2 - December 23, 1997 Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts
January 2 - February 12, 1998 Sakura City Museum of Art
February 21 ? March 29, 1998 The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
April 10 ? May 24, 1998 Huis Ten Bosch Museum of Art, Nagasaki

The exhibition aims to introduce the essence of seventeenth-century Dutch painting by presenting forty-six paintings by forty artists selected from among the works by Rembrandt, Hals, Van Ruisdael, and other Dutch masters in the collection of the Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis in the Hague, famed world-wide for tis superb collection of Dutch masterpieces.

On the Edge of Reality - Expressionism, surrealism and magic realism - From the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum
1998

July 30 - August 31, 1998　Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo
October 7 - October 29, 1998　Mitsukoshi Gallery, Fukuoka
November 14 - December 23, 1998　Kurashiki City Art Museum
February 18 - March 7, 1999　Daimaru Museum, Umeda
April 22 - May 30, 1999　Sakura City Museum of Art

The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, located in the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, takes pride in its comprehensive collection of artworks that presents a systematic overview of the history of Western art. The present exhibition focusing on twentieth-century art, introduces from this collection sixty-one works by twenty-five artists including Kandinsky, Kokoschka, Delvaux, and Willink from the beginning of the century through the 1970’s, classified under the three genres of Expressionism, Surrealism, and Magic Realism.

Rembrandt and the Age of the Old Masters: The Collection of The Kassel National Museum
1998

October 3 - November 30, 1998　Isetan Museum, Tokyo

Held in 1998, this exhibition showcased the masterpieces in The Kassel National Museum, which are usually never lent to any museum. The exhibited paintings include twenty masterpieces by Rembrandt, Fans Hals’s iconic piece “Pickled Herring or Merry Drinker”, and Pieter Paul Rubens’s “Escape to Egypt”. Composed of the paintings by Rembrandt and his contemporaries, The exhibition became an special opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of 17th Century.

The Public and the Private in the Age of Vermeer - Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the treaty of amity between Japan and the Netherlands
2000

April 4 - July 2, 2000　Osaka Municipal Museum of Art

Johannes Vermeer is one of the iconic painters that represent the golden age of Dutch Art. Notwithstanding his glorious reputation, his entire oeuvre only consists of 35 paintings that are now scattered around the world. For this exhibition, we succeeded in gathering five paintings from his small oeuvre, including the most famous piece ”The Girl with Pearl Necklace”. This exhibition also included the major contemporaries of Vermeer, who lived his entire life in Delft, where was one of the artistic centers in the Netherlands.
Commemorating 400th anniversary of the treaty of amity between Japan and the Netherlands, this exhibition marked a major sensation regarding Vermeer in Japan. The exhibition catalogue of this prestigious exhibition was published both in Japanese and English, and made available to Vermeer lovers all around the world.

Rembrandt, Rembrandt
2002

November 3, 2002 - January 13, 2003　Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto
January 31 - May 11, 2003　Stadelsches Kunstinstitut und Stadtische Galerie, Frankfurt

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) is one of the most famous figures in the 17 Century Dutch Art. Marked with his unique technique in expressing the photic contrast, he is considered to be one of the most important painters in the whole history of the western art. This exhibition “Rembrandt, Rembrandt” is the major retrospective of Rembrandt, showcasing his 50 oil paintings from all over the world.
Before this exhibition, the major exhibition featuring the art of Rembrandt had never been held in Asia, though it was held twice in 1956 and 1991 in Europe. Therefore, our exhibition became a historical event in the artistic world. After hosted in Kyoto National Museum, the exhibition was traveled to Stadel Museum in Frankfurt.

This exhibition was organized commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Conclusion of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the Western Countries.
For this exhibition, seven Vermeer paintings were united from all over the world, including “The Little Street” from Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, “The Girl with a Wineglass” from Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, and “Woman Writing a Letter with her Maidservant” from National Gallery of Ireland. Also exhibited are the paintings by the great masters in Delft, who lived in the same age with Vermeer. Among them, Carel Fabritius and Pieter de Hooch are particularly known as the masters, who influenced on the artistry of Vermeer.
There had been no other occasion, where these masterpieces come together in one exhibition ever hosted in Asia. This exhibition attracted over 930,000 visitors, recording the 3rd place in the attendance figure ranking of the all time exhibition in Japan.

Communication: Visualizing the Human Connection in the Age of Vermeer
2011

June 25 - October 16, 2011　Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
October 27 - December 12, 2011　Miyagi Museum of Art
December 23 - March 14, 2011　Bunkamura the Museum, Tokyo

Johannes Vermeer is, without a doubt, one of the greatest artists of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age. His works, painted with carefully thought-out spatial structures and a unique texture of light, continue to fascinate his audiences to this day. The fact that there are only a few paintings that are officially attributed to him is another factor that stirs people’s interest in him. In 2011, a few of his works that had never been exhibited in Japan arrived for this exhibition. Woman in Blue Reading a Letter was shown to the world for the first time after its restoration at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This event was also the first time for this work to be exhibited in Asia, which made this arrival a historically significant one.

The Hangaram Design Museum in South Korea opened an exhibition which focuses on Van Gogh’s life and career in Paris. This event marks the first time that the Portrait of Pere Tanguy was exhibited in Asia.

Van Gogh in Paris:New Perspectives
2012

July 29 - October 28, 2012　Palace Huis Ten Bosch Museum, Nagasaki
April 2 - May 19, 2013　Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
May 26 - July 15, 2013　Miyagi Museum of Art
July 22 - September 23, 2013　Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum

From his passionate temperament, and life filled with dramatic events, it is easy for us to picture Vincent van Gogh as “a tenacious idealist and genius, whose personality is like a fire that burns and disappears.” Was van Gogh always a genius? Researchers at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam spent seven years pursuing the real Vincent van Gogh. Surprisingly, the answer to this quest was found in his works from Paris. Research on van Gogh continues today based on letters that were sent between him and his brother Theo. However, there are no existing letters that were written during the time they lived together in Paris, which leaves a large hole in our perspective of this portion of van Gogh’s life. Nonetheless, there is so much that we can infer from the works he created during this time. His paintings will tell the tale of van Gogh’s recovery from failure and distress, as well as his strength in solitude, to the audiences of the exhibition. With 36 works waiting to be shown to the Japanese audience for the first time, and a dramatic series of 8 self-portraits painted over a period of 700 days, this exhibition will provide a new perspective of the artist Vincent Van Gogh.

The Netherlands in the 17th century is a period that is called the Dutch Golden Age. During this time, the Netherlands was experiencing rapid growth as a country. As the country fought against the war of dictatorship from Spain in 1560, the economy grew. By 1602, the Netherlands was known around the world as a powerful and wealthy country due to the Dutch East India Company that initiated foreign trade.
Also art in the 17th century developed significantly, and many Dutch old masters were born in different painting genres, creating many masterpieces. The paintings were sold at prices and sizes that were also purchasable for the general public and not just the upper classes. During this time, travelers from other countries had said they were surprised at the number of paintings that decorated the homes of the general citizens.
Artists that were successful during this time include Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) from the city of Delft, known as the ‘Master of Light’, and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) who gained fame in Amsterdam from his unique subjects, technique and composition of his paintings, and who is one of the most well known painters today. Even after 400 years since their works were created, their paintings which are vibrant with colors still leaves us a strong impression.
In this exhibition, there will be approximately 60 paintings that will introduce you to the Dutch Golden Age and the painters of that time. These artists include Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, and Jan Steen, who will show us their culture and lives. The art works are mainly borrowed from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and private collectors. It is the first time Vermeer’s Young Woman with a Water Pitcher and Rembrandt’s Bellona are exhibited in Japan.
General editors of this exhibition are Jeroen Giltaij (former Chief Curator of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen) and the late Walter Liedtke (former Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). This exhibition will introduce the paintings from the 17th century Netherlands based on different themes, and give opportunities to the visitors to enjoy the techniques.

Pierre Auguste Renoir, an artist that represents French Impressionism is famous for his portraits, especially of women and children. The women he painted include his patrons, his friends’ wives and children, actresses, a passerby on the street, that vary in age and social backgrounds. These women posed occasionally, and at other times Renoir painted scenes of their everyday lives.
Renoir found beauty and happiness within his observations, and expressed them in his works.
This exhibition showcases paintings of women’s translucent skin, the vibrant color of their cheeks and lips, and the beauty shown through bright light painted by Renoir.

The first Impressionist exhibition was held in 1874 in Paris, France. The style of the impressionists did not follow the traditional academic rules, and was a shock to the public and the critics. The painters portrayed open-air, overflowing lights by using a wide array of colors and free strokes. The rapid modernization of society had changed not only the people’s lives, but also how people viewed daily events and nature. They were probably able to step into the unprecedented new style of art, by living in an era that underwent a significant change.
This exhibition focuses on the Impressionists and also showcases the art movements around this time. These art works include the Barbizon school, which made a considerable impact on the birth of impressionism, the neo-impressionism, Les Nabis and Fauvism, which emerged under the influence of the Impressionists, and moreover, the contemporary German impressionism.
This exhibition introduces 67 precious works, that were born during the era of reform, including some shown in Japan for the first time. All the artworks are brought from the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Foundation Corboud (Cologne, Germany), that has one of the largest collections in Germany.

Ito Jakuchu was born 300 years ago in Shotoku 6 (1716), as the eldest son of a whole-sale greengrocer merchant of Kyoto Nishiki Koji alley. While he helped his family business, he learned brushworks of the Kano school, Korin Ogata, Chinese Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. He conceded his family business to his younger brother at the age of 40 years, where one would be called an elderly in the Edo Period, to devote all his attention to production of paintings. Until his death in Kansei 12 (1800), he continued to create his unique style of photographic and decorative paintings of flowers and birds, and of his innovative brushwork of ink-and-wash painting. This exhibition celebrates the 300th anniversary of Ito Jakuchu’s birth and unveils the ties between Kyoto and Ito Jakuchu, by reconfirming the importance of the surroundings of the 18th century Kyoto, in order for Ito Jakuchu to produce his unique and distinctive works.

In bright sunshine, a maiden is putting a naive look on her face. Or in subdued light, a lady is reading a book in peace. These images, without any hint of distress, are filled with happiness. This is the reason Renoir has been loved by many.
It is said that the reason Renoir produced many works filled with happiness, is that he was convinced that only joyous themes produce joyous paintings.
Nowadays, Renoir’s works with warm shiny lights bring us unconditional comfort. However, during his time, his works were not well received by the art scene and the critics gave him harsh reviews. Renoir’s soft artistic expressions that we are familiar with were a revolutionary change in the art world.
This exhibition includes Renoir’s one of most famous works “The Dancer” (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) that was shown at the First Impressionist Exhibition. The exhibition also shows his early works and the female nudes from his later period, from institutions in and outside Japan.