In Praise of Lights and Shadows Western Paintings
of Sumitomo Collection
March 14 (Tue.) - May 21 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Monday during the exhibition,
April 25 (Tue.)
The nineteenth-century impressionist and European academic paintings collected by the fifteenth head of the Sumitomo family, Shunsui, represent the first Western painting collection in Japan, preceding the formation of the Matsukata and Ohara collections by about two decades. Here, they are displayed together with famous works of modern Japanese Western-style painting, which developed out of their influence. The origins and attributes of this contrasting collection of works from the new and old schools of impressionism and classicism are introduced with the theme of “light and shadow.”
Claude Monet Monceau Park.
Dated 1876.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYOJean-Paul Laurens Austorian Army Staff by General Marceau’s Body.
Dated 1877.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO
Admission Fee
Adults ￥800
University/High School Students with ID ￥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Thematic Exhibition
Lyrical and Narrative Paintings
: The Elegant World of Yamato-e
June 10 (Sat.) - July 17 (Mon.) 2023
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Monday during the exhibition
This exhibition features Japanese paintings from the museum’s collection with literary motifs. From stories and legends to religious texts and moral precepts, literature retold and read since ancient times was deeply tied to painting. The 31-character worlds of Japanese waka poems were pictorialized, or conversely, poems were composed with inspiration from painting. The exhibition introduces the exquisite world of narrative and lyrical paintings, which developed in distinctively Japanese forms such as picture scrolls, folding screens, and folding fans, through works from the Sumitomo Collection.
The Tale of Genji.
Edo period, 17th century.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUMThe Tale of Taketori.
Edo period, 17th century.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Admission Fee
Adults ￥800
University/High School Students with ID ￥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Special Exhibition
Sen-Oku Biennale 2023 : Re-sonation II
September 9 (Sat.) - October 15 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Monday during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)
This is the sequel to “Sen-Oku Biennale 2021: Re-sonation,” which met with great success in 2021. Eleven artists at the forefront of contemporary metal casting reveal new works inspired by ancient Chinese bronze vessels in the collection of the Sen-Oku Hakukokan Museum. Previous works by the artists showcasing their worlds will also be on display. This is a special experience of fascination between the mysterious appeal of ancient bronze vessels and the imaginations of contemporary artists.
KAJIURA Seiko 万物層累聖獣盉.
Dated 2021.
Wine kettle, He, with conventionalized dragon design.
Late Western Zhou period.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Admission Fee
Adults ￥800
University/High School Students with ID ￥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Special Exhibition
Delightful Hyouso
: Traditional mounting style of Japanese paintings
November 3 (Fri.) - December 10 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Monday during the exhibition
As a calligraphy and painting format unique to East Asia, mountings such as hanging scrolls, handscrolls, and folding screens bring together various knowledge and aesthetics, from their conservation to their decoration and presentation. This exhibition shines a spotlight on mountings, which ordinarily play a supporting role and do not receive much attention. It introduces their diverse development and probes the meaning behind them. As an example of the activities of painting mounters, who served as interior coordinators, pioneers of art and culture, fellow hobbyists, and brokers for artists in addition to preparing and repairing mountings, it also traces the interactions between the fifteenth head of the Sumitomo family, Shunsui, and the painting mounter IGUCHI Sonsen.
Minamoto no Saneakira, one of Thirty-six Immortal Poets,
Satake Version.
Important Cultural Properties.
Kamakura period, 13th century.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Pasturing water buffaloes in an autumnal country side.
National Treasures
Attributed to Yan Ciping.
Southern Song Dynasty.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Admission Fee
Adults ￥800
University/High School Students with ID ￥600
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Ancient Chinese Bronzes
March 14 (Tue.) - May 21 (Sun.),
June 10 (Sat.) - July 17 (Mon.) 2023
September 9 (Sat.) - October 15 (Sun.),
November 3 (Fri.) - December 10 (Sun.) 2023
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Day Closed
Monday during the exhibition
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday) , April 25 (Tue.)
From the world-renowned Sumitomo's Chinese bronze vessel collection, we have chosen some particularly valuable and well-crafted masterpieces that we would like to introduce to you.The bronze vessel used for formalities and rituals of Shang and Zhou era will be introduced to you according to the type and usage. Together we will also show the animal motifes that decorated bronze vessels and bronze glasses, from ancient China to shed light on thoughts of ancient people for the animals and the nature.The development of bronze culture since the Qin and Han periods focuses on mirrors in this exhibit．
Food vessel with square stand and a bell, Gui with Tao-tie design.
Early Western Zhou period.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Animal shaped wine vessel.
Northern Song Dynasty.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM
Admission Fee
Admission included in Themantic (Special) Exhibition.
Directions
Open Hours
10:00～17:00
(Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Admission Fee
Adults ￥800 ★(￥1,000)
University/High School Students with ID ￥600 ★(￥800)
Junior High/Elementary School Students and under : Free ★(admission for special exhibitions)
* Subject to change depending on the exhibition.
* A group discount applies for a party of 20 or more.
* Free for people with disability ID
Day Closed
Mondays during the exhibition, April 25(Tue.)
(Open on public holidays, closed on the following weekday)
Access
City Bus lines 5, 93, 203 and 204 ; Get off at “Higashitenno-cho” and walk 200m to the east.
SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM and SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM TOKYO are art museums focusing on the collection of the Sumitomo family.
The Sumitomo Collection contains works in a broad range of fields, including ancient Chinese bronzes; Chinese, Japanese, and Western paintings and calligraphy; modern ceramics; tea ceremony utensils; writing tools; and Noh masks and costumes.
Located in Kyoto and Tokyo, the two museums hold exhibitions taking advantage of the characteristics of their respective locations.
Most of the items in the Sumitomo Collection were acquired by the fifteenth head of the Sumitomo family, SUMITOMO Kichizaemon Tomoito (nicknamed “Shunsui”), during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Shunsui laid the foundation for the modern Sumitomo Group by expanding the family business from copper mine operation into various fields and promoting modernization. Meanwhile, he also showed a high degree of interest in art and culture and left a significant mark on cultural social enterprises, including the donation of construction and book purchasing costs for a library in Osaka Prefecture in 1900.
At the same time, he was fond of the tea ceremony, as well as classical Japanese performing arts such as Noh, and decorated the alcoves of his residence with Japanese paintings of the four seasons. Motivated by admiration for the Chinese literati, he enjoyed Chinese-style sencha tea ceremonies and seal engraving in his study, surrounded by writing tools. He was also an active supporter of Japanese Western-style painters in his day and built a Western-style villa on the scenic Suma coast, where he enjoyed a Westernized lifestyle that was progressive for its time. With his wide-ranging interest in culture, Shunsui collected fine artworks from all different eras and parts of the world.
At the center of the Sumitomo Collection are Chinese bronze vessels highly prized both in Japan and abroad. SEN-OKU HAKUKOKAN MUSEUM was established in 1960 with the donation of more than 500 Chinese bronze vessels and mirrors by the Sumitomo family. Rather than stashing his collection away, Shunsui shared it widely through various means such as exhibitions, increasing public recognition of Chinese bronzes. He also made significant contributions to the research field through the publication of splendid catalogs.
The attitude and ideals of Shunsui’s social contributions through culture have been handed down to posterity and form the basis of the museum’s current operations.
The collection has been further enhanced through the addition of works by masters of late Ming and early Qing Chinese painting such as Bada Shanren and Shitao, as well as the great modern Japanese Western-style painter KISHIDA Ryusei, acquired by Shunsui’s eldest son Kan’ichi, along with works by leading twentieth-century Western painters such as Picasso and Renoir, as well as Japanese painters from the same period, collected by the sixteenth head of the Sumitomo family, Tomonari.
