Japanese art collections

2.2.4.1 Panasonic Electric Works Art Collection

In Japan several corporations keep their art collections gathered in internal art museums located within their headquarters, or in external museums located outside of the headquarters. Panasonic Electric Works has their art collection gathered in an in-house art museum in their headquarters in Tokyo. The museum named the Shiodome Museum Rouault Gallery opened in 2003, the same year as the completion of the corporation’s present headquarters building. The art museum is located on the fourth floor of the building and it is easily recognizable

145 In 2009 I had the great pleasure of visiting a Thiebaud exhibition in San Francisco together with Howard Becker.

when entering the floor by the escalator or elevator. The central location makes it also easy accessible for employees who like to visit the museum.

The core of the collection consists of approximately 200 artworks by the French artist Georges Rouault, who is also the source for the name of the museum, which according to the museum is the only museum in the world that actually wears the name of Rouault. (Masuko, Hagiwara et al. 2010) In addition to the works of Rouault, the collection also contains about 50 works made by other artists, such as glass paintings made by the Japanese artist Yasuhiko Kida.¹⁴⁶ The style of Rouault’s works is within a variation of late French Fauvism, mostly from the first part of the twentieth century, 1900-1940, and the collection includes paintings, drawings and graphic prints, all in small to moderate sizes, created by Rouault during these decades. Rouault was among other things concerned with colonial issues, and his works are characterized by rough black paintbrush contours. His works are also described as grotesque, and some, such as Duncan claims that he depicted decadent and morally monstrous women.

(Duncan 1992) But as Rouault’s works are often more humoristic than shocking, they are presumably not experienced as offensive, compared with the more shocking variants of contemporary art today. A striking quality of the works of Rouault is by the way how the rough, black or dark colored paintbrush strokes of the artist are reminiscent of the paintbrush strokes in Japanese calligraphy, particularly in large scaled calligraphy as exhibited in the old Buddhist temple with the Rock Garden in Kyoto (photo 81). Because of the rough, dark and heavy expression that characterizes the works of Rouault, and in spite of the relatively small to medium sized artworks, the collection appears as rather masculine.

Photographs removed

MIH Photo: 79 (left) Front cover of Ambroise Vollard: “Réincarnations du pére Ubu” (1932), by Georges Rouault, in “Georges Rouault pour Ubu”, Panasonic EW Shiodome Museum, Tokyo, 2010 MIH Photo: 80 (middle) Exhibition poster “Georges Rouault pour Ubu”, Panasonic EW Shiodome Museum, Tokyo, 2010

MIH Photo: 81 (right) Calligraphic work, the Rock Garden, Kyoto, June 2010

146 http://panasonic-denko.co.jp/corp/museum/en/collection/ (02.15.2011)

The collection also reflects the general Japanese interest in the Western world and Western art, particularly in French Impressionism and styles in the wake of Impressionism, as here in Fauvism. The preference of Impressionism and early twentieth century French art seems to be a common preference for several corporations that collect art in Japan, as several corporate collections contain French art from the same period. The admiration of the early modernist French styles may be characterized as nostalgic, and seemingly this nostalgic admiration of early French modernism applies to a great part of the art interested people in Japan, which reveals a nostalgic zeitgeist in the Japanese society. One factor that may have contributed to this is the fall in the GDP growth in Japan after 1990,¹⁴⁷ which was worsen by the global economic recession that also marked the Japanese economy in 2009.¹⁴⁸ Although Japan in many ways represents an “ultra modern” and high tech society, it is also characterized by a lot of present and visible features from the old Japanese culture, such as the great number of Buddhist temples and Shinto Shrines, that appear “everywhere” between high tech and modern buildings. Thus parallel to being ultra modern and forward oriented, Japan carries strong nostalgic values and traditions from the past mixed with an ultra modern innovative culture. Obviously the common Japanese interest in early modernist French art also reflects a yearning for foreign impulses, that were temporarily put aside during World War II.

Besides its permanent collection, the Shiodome museum also arranges thematic exhibitions, as in the spring of 2010 in an exhibition called “Georges Rouault pour Ubu”. This exhibition displayed Rouault’s illustrations to texts made by the famous French art dealer Ambroise Villard, a central figure in the early twentieth century French art world, gathered in the book “Réincarnations du Père Ubu”

from 1932. In this exhibition the museum also displayed art borrowed from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts and various other private collectors. (Masuko, Hagiwara et al. 2010) The early twentieth century collection and the in-house art museum at the headquarters of Panasonic Electric Works communicate pecuniary strength. Not at least, through the corporations emphasis on the art museum which is functioning as an independent museum led by a managing director, a professional art curator and others to support the museum, it signals a

distinguished art interest, with a high emphasis on art historical knowledge, which also implies high cultural capital among the founder and leaders.

147 http://www.indexmundi.com/japan/gdp_real_growth_rate.html (02.25.2011)

148 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=JPY (02.01.2011)

2.2.4.2 Idemitsu Kosan Art Collection

The art collection of the Japanese oil corporation Idemitsu Kosan consists of approximately 15 000 items,¹⁴⁹ gathered in an in-house art museum in the headquarters of the corporation. The Idemitsu Museum of Arts was established in 1966 to display the collection of Sazo Idemitsu, the founder of the Idemitsu Corporation Ltd. founded in 1911.¹⁵⁰ The museum is located on the ninth floor of the headquarters of Idemitsu Kosan in Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, in Tokyo. The collection mainly consists of historical and antique Japanese arts and crafts such as textiles, porcelain, ceramics, Japanese painting and calligraphy, including two National Treasures, and fifty-one important Cultural Properties.¹⁵¹ But it also contains arts and crafts from China, Korea and Eastern Asia, and some modern art, among others by the Japanese artist Kosugi Hõan, the French artist Georges Rouault and the American artist Sam Francis.¹⁵² Through a temporarily loan arrangement with the Munch Museum in Oslo, the museum also exhibit paintings by the Norwegian painter Edward Munch. It is an interesting connection between Munch and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, as Idemitsu Kosan has been an important supporter of the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. In 1993 the corporation contributed economically to the rehabilitation and extension of the Munch Muesum, and as a part of the agreement the Idemitsu Museum of Arts has been borrowing three artworks of Munch every year during the last fifteen years, and because of this, several of Munch’s masterpieces have been exhibited in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts in Tokyo.¹⁵³

In 2007 the corporations Norwegian branch; Idemitsu Petroleum Norge, donated four million Norwegian kroner to the Munch Museum in Oslo, with the purpose of doing research, and to realize the conservation and exhibition of the “Scream”

and “Madonna”,¹⁵⁴ two of Munch’s most famous artworks that were stolen some years ago, but which were found and returned with insignificant damages to the Munch Museum a couple of years later. The Norwegain branch of the Idemitsu Kosan, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge is also one of the sponsors of the Munch Museum.¹⁵⁵ Another interesting connection between Munch himself and Japan in general is that Munch, who as mentioned in chapter 2.1.7.3 similar to many of his artist colleagues at the end of the nineteen century was highly inspired by Japanese art, and particularly by Japanese woodcuts, such as the works of

149 http://www.idemitsu.co.jp/museum/english/index.html (02.15.2011)

150 http://www.idemitsu.com/company/history.html (01.19.2011)

151 http://www.idemitsu.co.jp/museum/english/index.html (02.15.2011)

152 http://www.idemitsu.co.jp/museum/english/index.html (02.15.2011)

153 http://www.idemitsu.no/csr.aspx (12.29.2010)

154 http://www.idemitsu.no/csr.aspx (12.29.2010)

155 http://www.munch.museum.no/ (12.29.2010)

Katsushika Hokusai who became popular with his “Thirty-Six Views of Mt.

Fuji” from about 1825, in the Edo period. (Terukazu 1961)

MIH Photo: 82 (left) Idemitsu Kosan HQ, Tokyo, June 2010 MIH Photo: 83 (right) Tea House, Shogun fortress, Kyoto, June 2010

The Idemitsu Museum of Art also arranges thematic exhibitions along with their permanent collection, and in the spring and summer of 2010 they arranged an historical exhibition on the Tea Ceremony; in Japanese “chanoyu”, displaying antique porcelain cups, teapots and other objects that are crucial for performing the traditional tea ceremony, such as the painted folding screens; in itself worth studying, paper scrolls, vases for flowers and so on. As described in an exhibition brochure at the museum:

The characteristics of items carefully selected and prepared for the interaction of people through tea drinking clearly reflect the sensitivity and the aesthetics of the host of the ceremony.¹⁵⁶

In other words, one might say that the objects used in tea ceremonies also reveal the taste of the host, and probably also his or her pecuniary strength functioning as status symbols, similar to aesthetical objects in the Western world. Similar to the corporation’s core collection, most of the objects in the exhibition were arts and crafts from Japan and China. As mentioned in chapter 2.1.7.3, the Asian continent mainly represented by China and the Chinese dynasties, had a significant influence on the development of Japan and the cultural traditions of Japan through history, although many of the originally Chinese traditions have been transformed into genuine Japanese traditions, for instance the custom of tea drinking that was imported from China by Zen priests during the late twelfth century. (National Museum 2008) As described in the exhibition brochure at the museum:

156 Foreword, by Idemitsu Museum of Arts, (probably the foreword of the exhibition catalogue).

It is our aim to see how our aesthetics developed through tea drinking, looking back from the viewpoint of beauty of function, and also searching for the distinctive qualities of Japanese art.¹⁵⁷

The Japanese tea ceremony developed in the Muromachi period between 1392 and 1573, where the wealthy “Daimyo”; feudal lords, practiced a tea ceremony that included expensive imported utensils. Simultaneously another tradition developed, where tea was enjoyed in humble settings. This tea ceremony was developed to its highest level by the tea master Sen no Rikyu in the fifteen hundreds. The tea ceremony plays a significant role within Japanese art and culture, as the Japanese expressions “wabi” and “sabi”, that describes the uniqueness of the Japanese aesthetics, is rooted in the tea ceremony and the objects used in the ceremony. (National Museum 2008) While “wabi” refers to simplicity and quietness, “sabi” refers to the beauty of age, patina, or something that is dignified by use or by the irregular marks of the craftsman. In art books wabi sabi is often interpreted as “flawed beauty”,¹⁵⁸ and as described by the Tokyo National Museum: “This aesthetics can be seen in the irregular shapes and surface textures of vessels used in the tea ceremony.” (National Museum 2008)

The emphasized collection of art and crafts reveals high cultural capital and a strong interest in the development of Japanese and East Asian culture, although it also includes some Western art. The many antique arts and crafts objects from Japan, China and East Asia that are included in the collection, reflect a national and regional interest that may have emerged in the post World War II period, and which presumably also marked the Japanese society during that period, as most countries that were involved in World War II were in a stage of rebuilding the society. In other words; as the art collection reflects a national and nostalgic interest, it may also reflect the zeitgeist of the Japanese post World War II period which presumably also marked corporate cultures in Japan at the time. As mention above, the decline in economical growth in Japan during the last decades may also explain some of the nostalgic notions in the Japanese society today.¹⁵⁹ In respect of gender, the collection consists of both masculine and feminine objects, the latter particularly connected to the many home utilities, represented by textiles, clothes, ceramic pottery and porcelain. As the art collection includes a lot of feminine as well as masculine features, the collection appears as mixed.

The collection of Idemitsu Museum of Arts is described in many tourist guidebooks and maps of Tokyo. Through this it is well known and visited by a

157 Foreword, by Idemitsu Museum of Arts, (probably the foreword of the exhibition catalogue).

158 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi (12.28.2010)

159 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/GDP-Growth.aspx?Symbol=JPY (02.01.2011)

lot of people from Japan and abroad. As antique art and crafts are expensive in acquisition, the collection also communicates high pecuniary strength.

2.2.4.3 Bridgestone Art Collection

Similar to several other corporate collections in Japan, the Bridgestone art collection is gathered in an in-house art museum. The Bridgestone Museum of Art, Ishibashi Foundation, named after the founder Ishibashi Shojiro, is located on the second floor of the corporation’s headquarters in Tokyo; the Bridgestone Building. The founder was inspired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York when he founded the museum. Translated, the name Ishibashi means “stone bridge”, which means that the name of the corporation, Bridgestone, is based on this family name. (Curatorial-Department 2009) Conveniently the name also refers to road surfaces consisting of bridge stones, as Bridgestone is a tire manufacturer originally producing tires for automobiles. Presumably Bridgestone is known by people all over the world, in as much as they have cars or vehicles that need tires. The art collection that opened in 1952 the same year as the completion of the headquarters building, includes over 1800 artworks, and consists of a variety of ancient twentieth century and contemporary Japanese and Western art, the latter particularly represented by French Impressionism, Post Impressionism and Fauvism. The represented techniques are paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. Among the ancient sculptures are also Hellenistic marble sculptures and Greek jars. Among the older European painters the Dutch Rembrandt van Rijn and the French Jean A. D. Ingres are represented, and from the late nineteen century a large number of French artist representing Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism, such as; Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, and the Dutch Vincent van Gogh. Additionally also works of early abstract painters are included such as the Russian painter Vasily Kandinsky and the Swiss-German Paul Klee, the cubists painters Pablo Picasso and Fermand Leger, and some surrealist painters such as the Russian Marc Chagall and the Italian Giorgio De Chirico. The collection also contains an early work by Jackson Pollock. (Curatorial-Department 2009)

One photo removed MIH Photo: 84 (left) Outdoor sculpture, Bridgestone Building, Tokyo, June 2010

MIH Photo: 85 (right) Bridgestone Building, Tokyo, June 2010

Although the museum opened in 1952, the acquisition of art is usually a continuous process in most art collections and museums, which means that artworks are purchased over time. In this case, the founder of the museum actually started to collect early twentieth century Japanese art before World War II, while he extended his collecting to include French Impressionist and Post Impressionist art after the war when many Japanese collectors were selling out artworks from their collections in order to restore their assets as mentioned in chapter 2.1.7.3. (Curatorial-Department 2009) Additionally, as claimed by Jacobson, incidents in the global economy some decades later led to a strong yen in the nineteen eighties, and may also have led to a growth in the art acquisition from the West, particularly in respect of styles such as Impressionist and Post Impressionist art, and also some contemporary American art. (Jacobson 1993) However as many Japanese artists went to France and Paris to study art before and around 1900, these also brought the interest of early European Modernism back to Japan, and made the Japanese artists adopt what is called a Western-style of painting. Thus maybe the most interesting aspect of the Bridgestone art collection is that it also includes a great number of Japanese painters from the Impressionist period, who are clearly inspired by French Impressionism and the following styles. (Curatorial-Department 2009)

Several of the Japanese painters spent a year or two in Paris and France during the Impressionist and the following periods, such as Asai Chu, who studied in Paris for two years from 1900 to 1902, and whose work is clearly marked by French Impressionism. The works of Okada Saburosuke who also studied in Paris in the beginning of the nineteen hundreds, is particularly interesting because he combines the European style with Japanese traditions, as in an Impressionist inspired painting depicting a Japanese woman wearing a kimono.

(Curatorial-Department 2009) Other Japanese artists who came to Paris around

the nineteen twenties, such as Saeki Yuzo, also created an interesting mix of the French and Japanese styles of that period. Yuzo is depicting outdoor cafés and ordinary places in Paris in paintings that includes depicted posters and signs with roughly painted black text pinned up on the café walls and written in European characters. This gives his paintings an interesting expression, as the roughly painted characters also are reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy and roughly painted Japanese signs.

Japan was closed for nearly 300 years in the Edo period from 1603 to the last part of the eighteen hundreds, and as mentioned in chapter 2.1.7.3, after the opening of the country Japan participated in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867. By going to Paris at that time, Japanese artists found a city that had become the heart of the art development, and the cradle of new and progressive art styles, starting with Realism and its politically engaged artists, among others Courbet who was engaged in the 1871 Paris Commune, and later was held responsible for the destruction of the Vendôme Column, “…which Napoleon III had doted upon”. (Harvey 2003)¹⁶⁰ Realism was followed by the then rebellious Impressionism in the eighteen seventies, together with the appearance of Modernism, the symbolic “superstructure” of the new art styles in the coming century. No wonder that Paris and the art development at that time made a great impression on artists from the long locked Japan.

Due to the diversity of the collection, where the expressions spans from soft and light to rough and dark expressions, the collection appear as rather mixed in respect of gender, in spite of that there are less female artists represented in the collection than males. Seemingly the art collection of the Bridgestone

Corporation consists of art that most people experience as decent and none offending. The interest in early Modernism represented by French

Impressionism, Japanese Western style painting from the Impressionist period

Impressionism, Japanese Western style painting from the Impressionist period