The Matsuoka Museum of Art is a private museum located in

Shirokanedai is a highly affluent district of Minato, Tokyo. The district today is made up of 5 ''chome''. As of November 1, 2007, the population of Shirokanedai is 10,001. The former neighborhood of Shirokanedai (Shirokanedaimachi, 白金台町) consisted o ...

Minato, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. The modern Minato ward exhibits th ...

, founded by Japanese developer Seijiro Matsuoka in November 1975. The museum took advantage of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

to close for renovations, reopening on 26 January, 2022 with an exhibition featuring many of the original pieces acquired by Matsuoka himself, and form the basis of the museum's collection.

Summary

The Museum initially opened in

Shinbashi , sometimes transliterated Shimbashi, is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Name Read literally, the characters in Shinbashi mean "new bridge". History The area was the site of a bridge built across the Shiodome River in 1604. The river was la ...

, but was moved to the site of Seijiro Matsuoka's private residence following his passing in April 2000. Seijiro Matsuoka (1894–1989), was a real estate developer who initially made his fortune as a jewelry dealer in the 1920s, then expanded his fortune through real estate holdings in office buildings, frozen food storage, and hotels following World War 2. He was known as a collector of Chinese ceramics, Gandhara Indian sculptures, Impressionist paintings, sculptures, and antiquities. Acquisition of a significant

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

era

Jingdezhen porcelain Jingdezhen porcelain () is Chinese ceramics, Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name ...

bottle from

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

in 1974 for the then record price of £420,000 (250 million yen in Japanese yen at the time) convinced Matsuoka of the need to establish a museum to share his collection with the public. The collection includes contemporary sculptures by Bourdelle and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

stone sculptures and medieval Hindu sculptures, oriental

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

from China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, Japanese paintings from

Muromachi The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

ink paintings to Showa,

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

, Modigliani, and modern French paintings such as

Vlaminck Maurice de Vlaminck (4 April 1876 – 11 October 1958) was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 w ...

Notable works

Western paintings

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

, ''Country Road in Normandy'', 1868

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...

, ''Portrait of Lucien Daudet'', pastel, 1879

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summa ...

, ''Pilot of the Sea'', 1884

Armand Guillaumin Armand Guillaumin (; February 16, 1841 – June 26, 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Biography Early years Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending eveni ...

, ''The Rocks of Agay'', 1893
Hippolyte Petitjean, ''Landscape with Nymph'', 1901

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...

, ''Afternoon of the Carousel Bridge'', 1904

Henry Moret Henry Moret (12 December 1856 – 5 May 1913) was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the artists who associated with Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in Brittany. He is best known for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony and his ric ...

, ''Whirlpools, Finistère'', 1911

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, ''Bust of a Young Woman (Lady Martha)'', circa 1916-7

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. H ...

, ''Port of Saint-Tropez'', 1923

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a po ...

, ''Inside Brittany'', 1938

Maurice de Vlaminck Maurice de Vlaminck (4 April 1876 – 11 October 1958) was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 w ...

, ''Sunset in the Forest'', 1938

Albert Marquet Albert Marquet (27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter, associated with the Fauvist movement. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturali ...

, ''Port of Algiers'', 1942

Paul Delvaux Paul Delvaux (; 23 September 1897 – 20 July 1994) was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, alt ...

, ''Orpheus'', 1956

Japanese paintings
''Hokke Mandala Figure'', late Heian
Takebayashi Kanaizu, paper book sumi-tansai with the appreciation of Takean Taien ( Important Cultural Property)
Kano Sanraku, ''Oromatsu Furugi Flower and Bird Drawing Screen'', Early Edo period
Maruyama Okyo, ''Yui Koi Waterfowl Figure Screening Screen'', 1974
Ikeda Shoen and Terukata Co-operation ''Sakurabune and Autumn Leaves Hunting Screen'', 1912
Hiroyo Terasaki ''Snowboard in the Sea of Spring in the Sea'', 1914 Hidene Ikegami, ''Gangami Cormorant Folding Screen'' 1972

File:Bottle jar with dragon and arabesque design, China, Jingdezhen kiln, Ming dynasty, Yongle period, 1403-1424 AD, blue and white - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07353.JPG, Bottle jar with dragon and arabesque design, China, Jingdezhen kiln. File:Hexagonal vase with paired phoenixes and insects in grass design, China, Jingdezhen kiln, Yuan dynasty, 14th century AD, blue and white - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07349.JPG, Hexagonal vase with paired phoenixes, China, Jingdezhen kiln. File:Dog figure, China, Eastern Han dynasty, 1st-3rd century AD, green glaze - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07245.JPG, Dog figure, China, Eastern Han dynasty File:Preaching Buddha, perhaps the Great Miracle of Sravasti, Gandhara, c. 3rd century AD, gray schist - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07120.JPG, Gandhara Buddhist Relief, India, 3rd Century File:Avalokitesvara, seated Bodhisattva in meditation pose, Gandhara, c. 3rd century AD, gray schist - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07059.JPG, Gandhara Buddhist statue, India, 3rd Century File:Chemin en Normandie by Claude Monet, 1868, oil on canvas - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07407.JPG, "Chemin en Normandie" by Claude Monet, 1868 File:Interior view - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC06964.JPG, Interior view of the Museum (Boudelle's "Penelope" on the right) File:Interior view - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07422.JPG, Western art at the Museum File:Garden view - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07432.JPG, Garden view of the Museum File:Le bateau d'oranges, Marseille, by Paul Signac, 1923, oil on canvas - Matsuoka Museum of Art - Tokyo, Japan - DSC07410.JPG, Signac's "Le bateau d'oranges", 1923

Location

15 minutes walk from JR

Meguro Station is a railway station in the Kamiōsaki district of Shinagawa, Tokyo, close to the boundary with Meguro ward. Lines Meguro Station is served by the following lines: *East Japan Railway Company (JR East) Yamanote Line *Tokyo Metro Namboku Line - ...

East Exit. 6 minutes on foot from Tokyo Metro

Shirokanedai Station is a subway station in Minato, Tokyo, operated jointly by the Tokyo subway operators Tokyo Metro and Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation (Toei). Lines Shirokanedai Station is served by the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (station number N-02) ...

Notable exhibitions

* Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Tategura Nihon-cho"'', August 1987 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Toyo Ceramic Ceramics"'', November 1991 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Ancient Oriental Sculpture"'', January 1994 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Tatezo Modern Painting in France"'', 1995 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Ecole de Paris Exhibition from the French Impressionists in the Matsuoka Museum of Art"'', 1996 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Japanese painting selection"'', October 2006 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Walking with the Matsuoka Museum of Art"'', Norio Oyama, October 2009 * Matsuoka Museum of Art, ''"Reopening Memorial Exhibition: The essence of the Matsuoka Collection"'', 2022

References

External links

Matsuoka Museum of Art
- Official Website {{authority control 1975 establishments in Japan Art museums established in 1975 Art museums and galleries in Tokyo Ceramics museums in Japan Buildings and structures in Minato, Tokyo