The collection exhibition Modern Japanese Art from the Museum Collection is held at the collection gallery with an area of about 2,600 square meters. Presenting about 200 pieces from the museum collection comprising about 10,800 works including paintings, sculptures, watercolors, drawings, prints and photographs, the show provides an overview on the history of modern Japanese art from the early 20th century to the present. One hour is enough to go through the entire show. Please enjoy some time meeting our collection.
♦Many of the exhibits are changed four or five times a year. Some exhibits, mainly Japanese-style and war paintings, are changed during some exhibition periods.
♦The Topical section on the fourth floor, and the Photograph and Print, Watercolor and Drawing sections on the third floor change their focus every period.

Highlights

Nudes in the Collection - Topics in Focus
Accompanying Undressing Paintings: Japanese Nudes 1880–1945 given on the first floor, this show presents about 90 pieces with nude motifs from our collection comprising over 10,000 works. Of special interest are nudes in Japanese-style paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings and prints not included in Undressing Paintings that focuses on oil paintings.

Debut! Three new acquisitions including Kano Hogai's Nio (Buddhist Guardian) Seizing an Evil Spirit
Kano Hogai (1828–1888) was a leader in the modernization of Japanese-style paintings in the early Meiji period (1868–1912). This year one of his masterpieces joined our collection. Don’t miss it because it will be shown for the limited period.

Shimomura Kanzan, Autumn among Trees
We will exhibit Shimomura Kanzan’s Autumn Among Trees (1907), a pair of two-fold screens based on thickets in Izura, Ibaraki Prefecture where the painter lived from the year before. In an attempt to merge Western expression with Japanese traditional techniques such as those of Yamato-e and Rimpa, this challenging work impresses us with sweet lyricism and gorgeous decorativeness among the autumn thicket against the golden background. Please do not miss this opportunity.

Highlights in the respective sections

Gravity and Female Figures - Topics in Focus
Toward the end of the Meiji period (1868–1912), a new trend emerged in Japanese sculpture. In contrast to conventional standing images, many women figures began to hang their heads, crouch down, or lie face down. Through examples by sculptors including Ogiwara Morie, Kitamura Shikai and Fujii Koyu, this program explores the genealogy of such female figures failing to resist gravity, and its contemporary significance.

Undressing Prints: Nudity in Everyday Life
Presents ten Shin-Hanga(new print) and Sosaku Hanga(original, or self-produced print) with motifs of defenseless nude women while bathing, making up and other daily actions, including pieces of Hashiguchi Goyo, Ito Shinsui, Yamamoto Kanae and Onchi Koshiro.

Undressing Photographs: Nudes through the Lens
In the Nudes in the Collection program accompanying Undressing Paintings: Japanese Nudes 1880–1945, the Photograph Section presents various examples of nude expression in photography.
One of the important motifs in Western paintings, the nude has been addressed since early in the history of photography, a relatively new visual medium. This program explores how nudity in front of a lens develops into a piece of art from four perspectives: Nudity and stage setting, nudity without the face, nudity on the streets, and named nudity.

Important Cultural Properties on display

The collection at the main building of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo now has thirteen pieces that are designated as Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese government, comprising eight Japanese-style paintings, four oil paintings and one sculpture.

The following Important Cultural Properties are shown in this period:
■Harada Naojiro, Kannon Bodhisattva Riding the Dragon, 1890 (Deposited work;coll. Gokokuji Temple)
■Tsuchida Bakusen,Serving Girl at a Spa,1918
■Nakamura　Tsune, Portrait of Vasilii Yaroshenko , 1920
■Shinkai Taketaro, Bathing , 1907 (Original Plaster)
(A bronze cast after the original plaster will be shown.)