May 2024 – たいとう文化発信プログラムCMS

2024年5月17日2024年5月17日

Have fun walking around Ueno! Ueno Museum Week is scheduled to be held!

From Friday, May 10th to Sunday, May 26th, enjoy a cultural walking tour with a stamp rally around popular spots and gourmet spots in the Ueno area!

In the Ueno area, in commemoration of International Museum Day on May 18th, 12 facilities around Ueno Park, including museums, art galleries, and the zoo, will cooperate with Ueno Norenkai member stores to hold Ueno Museum Week. This year, a digital stamp rally will also be held for the first time. On International Museum Day on May 18th, multiple museums will be free to enter. Make the most of the event by using the annual “Town Fun” coupons.

The biggest attraction this year is the first-ever digital stamp rally! There will be 13 stamp points in the Ueno area, from cultural facilities in Ueno Park to various spots in the Ueno shopping district!

In addition to the cultural facilities in the park, there are also other spots in the city where you can feel art, such as the Matsuzakaya Ueno Store Main Building 7F Art Gallery, ABAB Ueno Store 6F “Uenoshita Studio”, and CREATIVE HUB UENO “es”, an art space in Ueno Station. Among them, BUZZCHIKA (located in the basement of Shinobaz Brewery Hitsuji Ice) is an art hotspot in the city where young artists’ exhibitions and plays are actively held. Enjoy the atmosphere of Ueno, the city of art, along with the stamp rally. The stamp rally rewards include coupons that can be used at Ueno stores at one stamp (you can get up to 13 per stamp!), creator collaboration digital art works at three stamps, and prizes from participating cultural facilities at seven stamps.

Another highlight is the “free admission” on May 18th, “International Museum Day.” On that day, you can visit three museums for free: the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Nature and Science, and the National Museum of Western Art. In addition, this year the Tokyo University of the Arts Museum will be giving away original museum goods to the first 50 visitors.

*The free admission day for the Taito Ward Former Tokyo Music School Concert Hall is Wednesday, May 15th. Please be careful not to make a mistake.

The annual coupon service can be used at 11 Ueno Noren-kai stores. During the period, please present the admission ticket stub of one of the 12 cultural facilities participating in Ueno Museum Week 2024. We will be offering generous free services such as complimentary soft drinks, draft beer, desserts, and 10% off purchases. Invite your friends and family to enjoy the whole of Ueno’s “forest” and “town.”

■Event Overview■

International Museum Day Commemorative Events 2024 Ueno Museum Week Period: Friday, May 10, 2023 to Sunday, May 26, 2023

Venues (participating facilities and organizations): Tokyo National Museum / National Museum of Nature and Science / National Museum of Western Art / Tokyo University of the Arts Art Museum / Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Ueno Zoological Gardens / The Ueno Royal Museum / Taito Ward Former Tokyo Music School Concert Hall / Former Iwasaki Garden / National Museum of Modern Architecture / National Diet Library International Children’s Library / Toeizan Kan’ei-ji Temple / Ueno Noren Association participating stores (in no particular order)
*There will be days when the museum is closed during the exhibition period.

Organized by: Ueno Museum Week Executive Organization Federation Co-organized by: Ueno Norenkai Supported by: National Museum of Nature and Science Foundation Cooperation: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Eastern Park and Green Space Office, Taito City, Taito City Arts and Culture Foundation Official website: http://www.ueno-mw.com/

■[Ueno Morimachi Wandering] Ueno Museum Week 2024 ~ International Museum Day ~ ■

A digital stamp rally will be held from Friday, May 10th to Sunday, May 26th. Stamp points will appear at the participating facilities listed below.

[Participating facilities]
・National Museum of Nature and Science・National Museum of Western Art・Tokyo National Museum・Ueno Royal Museum・Concert Hall of the Former Tokyo Music School・Former Iwasaki Residence Gardens・Tokyo University of the Arts Art Museum・International Library of Children’s Literature・Kaneiji Temple・Matsuzakaya Ueno Store Main Building 7F Art Gallery・ABAB Ueno Store 6F “Uenoshita Studio”
・BUZZCHIKA
・CREATIVE HUB UENO “es”

【How to Use】
Download the digital stamp rally Furari on your smartphone. Go to the designated location of the participating facilities and get a stamp. With one stamp, you can get a coupon that can be used at Ueno stores (you can get up to 13 for each stamp!), with three stamps you can get a creator collaboration digital art piece, and with seven stamps you can get prizes from participating cultural facilities. Prizes will be shipped to the winners one to two months after the Museum Week ends.

1 stamp….Coupons that can be used at Ueno stores (You can get up to 13 coupons for each stamp!)
3 stamps….. Creator collaboration digital art work 7 stamps….. Prizes from participating museums

[Coupons that can be used at Ueno stores]
Please refer to the coupon service for stores offering coupons.

[Creator Collaboration Digital Artwork]
We will be distributing digital artworks created by four young artists from the Ueno area-based art support group, Geio Nurture Town Club.

TOMIMO and Akina create works based on the theme of “Encounter with Memory.” They explore the gap between reality and reality by incorporating not only the human gaze but also the machine gaze. Their main exhibitions include “Mamono” (Ginza Nikon Salon, 2018), “HUMAN<3” (Kyoto International Film and Art Festival, 2019), and “Where is my bus?” (Tanegashima Space Art Festival, 2019) under the name of Tomimoto Travel. Their books include “mamono” (PlaceM Publishing, 2020). Graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Advanced Art and Media.
Web: https://ak-7.net

Jiyuu
Graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Crafts, majoring in metal. Using materials such as metal, antlers, and wood, he creates original sci-fi works using craft techniques. Recently, he has also been creating derivative works using 3D printers.

MAHANA
fair enoughCreative director
Depending on the concept and expression, various techniques are used, from flat to three-dimensional works. The concept of the work is to project the thoughts of the time, from personal to social satire.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahana_fe_d/?hl=ja

fair enough
fair enough is a designer brand launched in 2021. The brand explores expression with the concept of “sufficient fairness and dialogue” and will be exhibiting at New York Fashion Week 2024AW.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fairenough_official_/?hl=ja

Kobori Sayaka<br />Plush toy artist. Representative of smallmoat(combined). Born September 18, 1991.
Born in Niigata Prefecture and raised in Kanagawa Prefecture. We create palm-sized original characters based on the concept of “not just”. We create everything from pattern making to dyeing and accessory production from scratch.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coborisayaka/?hl=ja

CHIKA TOYS
Chika <br />Originally from Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. She creates a retro-future worldview by fusing mecha with cuteness. It is a story about rusty robots who continue to live as humans in a decaying world. She has been an artist for 10 years. She has exhibited at various events and has also exhibited her works at the Art Education Association.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chikatoys/?hl=ja

[List of prizes for participating museums]
〇 20 pairs of 40 National Museum of Nature and Science common invitation tickets

〇 National Museum of Western Art “Naito Collection Manuscripts – A Microcosm of the Elegance of the Middle Ages” admission tickets (20 pairs, 40 tickets)

*Tokyo National Museum General Cultural Exhibition invitation ticket + original ticket folder set (20 pairs, 40 tickets) *Special guided tour invitation (held on a date designated by the museum) (10 pairs, 20 people)

– 16 original goods from the “Dinosaur Picture Book Exhibition” held at the Ueno Royal Museum last year (a set of a mug, ballpoint pen, and sticker)

* 10 sets of 2 invitation tickets for the former Tokyo Music School Concert Hall + 1 ticket folder (total of 20 invitation tickets and 10 ticket folders)

〇 Original Iwasaki Residence Garden eco bag 20 people (1 per person)

〇Tokyo University of the Arts University Art Museum Original postcard (20 winners)

* Kan’ei-ji Temple special stamp book not for sale 20 winners (1 per person)

■Coupon Service■

During the period from Saturday, May 6th to Sunday, May 28th, you can receive free services by presenting your ticket stub from each museum at the stores listed below. For details on the services, please see the Ueno Museum Week official website.

[Participating stores]
Yoshi Sushi Ueno Branch, Anmitsu Mihashi, Izuei (eel restaurant), Hatoya (ladies’ clothing), Tenju (tempura), Kaiseki Chinese cuisine Ueno Ikenohata Kogets, Western cuisine Kurofunetei, Kameya Issui-tei (grilled eel and seasonal vegetables), Yakiniku Taishoen, Selected Western cuisine Sakurai, Shabu-shabu Hachinoki

【How to Use】
Present your ticket stub for a cultural facility in Ueno Park. *Present one ticket per person. *Cannot be used in conjunction with coupon services.

■Presents■

[Ueno Royal Museum]
May 3rd (Friday, National Holiday) Museum original goods giveaway Time: 10:00~
●Contents: Limited to the first 50 visitors to the exhibition at the reception counter

[National Museum of Western Art]
Saturday, May 18th: Museum original postcard giveaway Time: 9:30am
●Location: Permanent exhibition ticket gate ●Target: First 200 visitors to the permanent exhibition

[Tokyo University of the Arts Museum]
Saturday, May 18th: Museum original goods giveaway Time: 10:00~
●Location: Entrance hall ●Target: First 50 visitors to the exhibition

[BUZZCHIKA Exhibition Information]

Exhibition title: FIND IT!!!

Small organisms that have popped out from Ueno Forest into the city gather in the space called Buzzchika. Enjoy the experience of encountering a wide variety of organisms that you would never encounter in your everyday life.

Dates: May 10th (Fri) – 12th (Sun), 2024, May 17th (Fri) – 19th (Sun), 24th (Fri) – 26th (Sun)
Time: 13:00-17:00
Location: 2-10-7 Ueno, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0005, Japan
Exhibiting artists: Sayaka Kobori, Jiyu, Chika Toys, MAHANA fair enough

■What is International Museum Day? ■

“International Museum Day” is a museum commemoration day established by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 1977. Commemorative events are held at museums around the world on and around May 18th with the aim of familiarizing many people with museums and raising awareness of the role of museums. Ueno, which is rare even on an international level in terms of the large number of cultural facilities such as museums and art galleries gathered there, holds various commemorative events every year around “International Museum Day” as “Ueno Museum Week”, held by cultural facilities and the Ueno Noren Association.

■Ueno Norenkai■

Ueno, the cloud of flowers, is the representative entertainment district of this part of Edo. It is the source of art and culture in the Meiji period. The Ueno Noren Association is a federation of about 100 famous stores in Ueno. Since its founding in 1959 (Showa 34), it has been publishing the town magazine “Ueno” every month with the aim of rediscovering the cultural traditions of this area. This is the 776th issue (as of May 2024).

■ Flyer ■

◎Inquiries Ueno Museum Week Executive Committee Secretariat
TEL 03-3833-8016 FAX 03-3839-2765 (Ueno Norenkai, weekdays 10:00-17:00)

From the Ueno Norenkai press release

Article provided by: Kokosil Ueno

See other exhibition information

2024年5月17日2024年5月17日

[Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum] Report on the “De Chirico Exhibition.” A look into the full scope of his art, including the metaphysical paintings that shocked many surrealists

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum

The first large-scale retrospective of the 20th century master Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) in Japan in 10 years, "De Chirico Exhibition," is currently being held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno, Tokyo. The exhibition will run until August 29, 2024.

Installation view © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Giorgio de Chirico gained fame for his "metaphysical paintings," which had a major influence on many artists, including surrealists such as Salvador Dali and René Magritte. Although he is known as an avant-garde painter, he was also devoted to classical expression techniques such as the Renaissance and Baroque, and his style changed significantly with the times.

A retrospective exhibition usually presents works from an artist's early period to his later years in chronological order. However, this exhibition brings together over 100 works, mainly oil paintings, from all over the world, grouped by themes and motifs that De Chirico dealt with, such as "Self-portraits and portraits," "Metaphysical paintings," and "Return to traditional painting," and provides an easy-to-understand introduction to how he continued to paint them and make changes to them .

As an introduction, Chapter 1 focuses on self-portraits and portraits. De Chirico began his career as an artist early on, and produced hundreds of self-portraits throughout his life. The various stylistic changes seen in his self-portraits reflect the results of the research he pursued in each of his eras.

Portrait of the Brother, 1910, State Gallery Berlin © Photo Scala, Firenze / bpk, Museum für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

De Chirico was born in Greece in 1888 to Italian parents, and after the death of his father, he moved to Munich, Germany with his mother and younger brother. He enrolled in art school there but dropped out, and moved to Milan, Italy in 1909. At the time, De Chirico was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and the paintings of Arnold Böcklin, the abstract painter famous for Isle of the Dead. This exhibition features a rare portrait he painted during this period, that is, in the early stages before he established his style of metaphysical painting in Paris, called Portrait of his Brother (1910).

Self-Portrait, circa 1922, Toledo Museum of Art © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Self-Portrait (c1922) was a response by De Chirico to a time when a movement called "Return to Order" was sweeping through Western art, rediscovering the order of classical painting as a reaction to the destruction of expressive forms caused by the avant-garde movement. It is based on the rigid vision of Renaissance paintings such as Piero della Francesca and Raffaello Sanzio.

Self-Portrait in Bullfighter Costume, 1941, Casa Rodolfo Siviero Museum © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Self-Portrait in a Park in 17th Century Costume, 1959, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

In addition, some of his self-portraits are in 17th-century costumes or dressed as bullfighters. Such theatrical attempts and theatrical tastes are one of the characteristics of De Chirico's work, and are closely related to the stage design of operas and other theater productions that he was involved in intermittently throughout his career. In the second half of the exhibition, costumes and design sketches created by De Chirico are also on display, so it will be interesting to view the exhibition while imagining the mutual influence they had on each other.

The second chapter is de Chirico's signature metaphysical paintings, divided into three themes: "Italian Piazza," "Metaphysical Interior," and "Mannequin." This is the highlight of the exhibition, bringing together many of De Chirico's masterpieces from his golden age of the 1910s, which are usually scattered around the world.

One day in 1910, De Chirico was struck by the sensation of seeing a familiar landscape for the first time in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence. This "revelation" prompted him to begin producing paintings that, while depicting concrete scenes such as squares and interiors, hint at the extraordinary, the mystical and mysterious, resembling dream images, through distorted perspective and the arrangement of motifs that would not normally exist.

"Statue of Silence (Ariadne)" 1913, Art Collection of North Rhine-Westphalia © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

After moving to Paris in 1911, his fantastical paintings immediately captivated critics and became part of the forefront of the Parisian art movement. Influenced by the philosophy of his beloved Nietzsche, De Chirico later named these works "metaphysical painting." His Silent Figure (Ariadne) (1913), exhibited in the "Piazza Italiana" corner, is truly a masterpiece of metaphysical painting.

"Italian Square with the Pink Tower", circa 1934, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento and Rovereto (long-term loan from the LF Collection) © Archivio Fotografico e Mediateca Mart © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

"Piazza Italiana with a Pink Tower" (c1934), which depicts a square with no people in it, but with long shadows extending from outside the picture plane creating an ominous atmosphere, is a reproduction of "Piazza Italiana with a Red Tower" created in 1913. De Chirico was also active in reproducing metaphysical paintings he had painted in the past, and although this practice was sometimes criticized as "forgery," he himself seemed to take a positive view of it, saying, "There is no flaw in these reproductions, except that they are painted with more beautiful materials and more refined techniques" (from a letter to the wife of his teacher André Breton, who commissioned the reproduction).

With the outbreak of World War I, De Chirico moved from Paris to Ferrara as a soldier, and his paintings switched from the open views overlooking the square to the enclosed spaces of interiors. The motifs he painted were also inspired by the interiors of houses and shop windows in Ferrara, and objects that would have been around De Chirico in his daily life, such as biscuits, nautical charts, and rulers, began to appear without any context.

"Evangelical Still Life I" 1916, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

These are called "metaphysical interiors," and when we look at works from the 1910s, we see that the motifs depicted are unnaturally close to the viewer's eyes, with a myopic composition that excludes the presence of the outside world. In the 1960s, however, windows were installed, and the composition changed to create a sense of spaciousness. The windows also show the buildings of Piazza Italiana, a characteristic of the "New Metaphysical Paintings" that De Chirico began working on around 1968, which integrate motifs from his past works.

Metaphysical Interior with the Hands of "David" 1968, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

The "Mannequin" section features a series of works that replace the human figure, a motif that had been given a privileged status in classical Western painting, with the faceless mannequin, treating it as a kind of object on the same level as other motifs. As the appearance of the mannequin coincides with the outbreak of World War I, it is said that the mannequin represents the lack of rationality of human beings that causes war, or human powerlessness against violence.

The Prophet, 1914-15, Museum of Modern Art, New York (James Thrall Soby Bequest) © Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York / Scala, Firenze © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Mannequin plays a variety of roles, including muse, prophet, philosopher, and bride. Although she is depicted in an inorganic manner in her early masterpieces , The Prophet (1914-15) and The Metaphysical Muses (1918), it is noteworthy that as time went on she underwent an interesting transformation, becoming more fleshy and humanized under the influence of classicism.

Song of the South, circa 1930, Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Gallery of Modern Art © Gabinetto Fotografico delle Uffizi Gallerie © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

After returning from metaphysical painting to classical painting, De Chirico returned to Paris in 1925 and interacted with Surrealist painters, turning his attention back to metaphysical painting and to new themes such as "Gladiators" and "Furniture of the Valley." Chapter 3 focuses on these developments in the late 1920s.

"Combat (Gladiator)" 1928-29, Novecento Museum © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

On the right: Furniture for the Valley, 1927, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Trento and Rovereto (long-term loan from the LF Collection) © Archivio Fotografico e Mediateca Mart © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

The following fourth chapter is titled "Return to Traditional Painting – From 'Return to Order' to 'Neo-Baroque'" and introduces works that demonstrate the results of his devotion to classical painting, which has been mentioned many times in this article. From around 1920, he studied Renaissance works by Titian and Raphael, and then in the 1940s, Baroque works by Rubens and Velázquez, and although he was criticized by the Surrealists, he incorporated their expressions, themes, and techniques into his own work.

Armor and Watermelon, 1924, UniCredit Art Collection © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

This chapter features two bathing paintings. One is Reclining Bather (Alcmene Rest) (1932), which is based on a bathing painting painted in the latter years of the Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who was known at the time as the leading researcher of Renaissance classicism.

"Reclining Bather (Alcmene Rest)" 1932, National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

"Women Bathing in a Landscape with a Red Fabric" 1945, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

The other, painted more than ten years later, is Bathers in a Landscape with a Red Cloth (1945), inspired by Baroque painting and its interpretations by Eugène Delacroix and Gustave Courbet. Although it has the same subject, the latter is more sensual overall and features dark, dense colors, showing a significant change in brushstrokes and style.

The final section, "New Metaphysical Painting," follows the development of De Chirico's work from the time he began working on metaphysical painting again in the ten years leading up to his death in 1978.

The Return of Odysseus, 1968, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

In his final years, De Chirico freely combined elements of his past works, such as squares, interiors, mannequins, mythological stories found in classical paintings, and even the sun and moon he had drawn in his illustrations, breaking new ground beyond mere rehash. These styles are called "neo-metaphysical paintings," and they are free of the melancholy and oppressive atmosphere found in the metaphysical paintings of the 1910s. All of them are light, cheerful, and somewhat playful, as if they have been deprived of the poison.

"The Prodigal Son" 1973, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Gladiator in the Arena, 1975, Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation © Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Roma © Giorgio de Chirico, by SIAE 2024

Unswayed by criticism from those around him, De Chirico viewed the avant-garde and the classics as not contradictory but capable of coexisting, and he repeatedly quoted and paid homage to his own work, presenting an original work worthy of being called the culmination of his artistic career.

Overview of the "De Chirico Exhibition"

venue	Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
Dates	Saturday, April 27th, 2024 – Thursday, August 29th, 2024
Opening hours	9:30-17:30 (until 20:00 on Fridays) (entry until 30 minutes before closing)
Closed Days	Mondays, July 9th (Tue) – July 16th (Tue) *However, the office will be open on Monday, July 8th and Monday, August 12th (holiday).
Admission fee (tax included)	Adults: 2,200 yen, university and vocational school students: 1,300 yen, ages 65 and over: 1,500 yen Reservations are required for specified dates and times on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, and from August 20th (Tuesday). Free for high school students and younger. * Free for those who have a Physical Disability Certificate, Love Certificate, Rehabilitation Certificate, Mental Disability Health and Welfare Certificate, or Atomic Bomb Survivor Health Certificate, and their accompanying person (up to one person). *For further details, please check the official ticket page .
Organizer	Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, The Asahi Shimbun Company
inquiry	050-5541-8600 (Hello Dial)
Exhibition official website	https://dechirico.exhibit.jp/

*The contents of this article are current as of the time of coverage. Please check the official website for the latest information.

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