I visited the special exhibition currently on view at Tokyo Station Gallery, From Railway Paintings to Picasso: “Opening the Doors to Our Collection.”
Bound for Picasso: “Opening the Doors to Our Collection”
Likening the development of its themes to a single railway line—with 〈Railway Paintings〉 as the starting station, the theme changing at each stop, and 〈Picasso〉 as the terminus—the exhibition brings together, for the first time, the collection this museum has built up little by little over 30 years.
On display are some 100 works and materials, including pieces shown in past special exhibitions at the museum, Ichiro Fukuzawa’s original drawing for the stained glass inside Tokyo Station, works from the 〈Prospects of Contemporary Painting〉 exhibition series held while the museum was temporarily closed, and works and documents shown in the 2014 exhibition “Memories of 100 Years of Tokyo Station.”
Starting Station: 〈Railway Paintings〉
We begin at the departure station, 〈Railway Paintings〉. From Tokyo Station to landscapes with railway tracks, a wide variety of works were on display—Japanese-style paintings, Western-style paintings, photographs, and archival materials.
Station 2: 〈City and Suburbs〉
The second station is 〈City and Suburbs〉, linked by the railway. The selection is wonderfully varied: Western-style paintings depicting a Tokyo unlike today’s, works in which the artists’ memories are reconstructed, and realistic landscape paintings. Drawing particular attention was a work using Karuizawa Station as its motif.
Look closely and you’ll notice John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and their son painted in as well.
Station 3: 〈People〉
The third station takes as its theme 〈People〉—both the users and the operators of the railway.
Photography was not permitted, but the most striking work that day was by Reinhard Sabye. It is a piece that gives off an intense message.
Station 4: 〈Abstraction〉
At the fourth station, 〈abstract〉 paintings line the walls.
Station 5: 〈Picasso〉
The terminus is the one everyone knows—〈Picasso〉. Four paintings from various periods were lined up. Regrettably, photography of the works was not allowed.
Summary
Since it was an exhibition centered on railways, at first I enjoyed it much as I had the recent Metropolitan Expressway exhibition.
As the route moved into its latter half the theme drifted further and further away, but with so many works gathered together, it was a highly satisfying exhibition.
Participating Artists / 61
- Masayoshi Aigasa
- Kongo Abe
- Nobuya Abe
- Mitsuhiro Ikeda
- Leiko Ikemura
- Akiko Endo
- Oscar Oiwa
- Kiyoji Otsuji
- Shinjiro Okamoto
- Shinji Ogawa
- Kaku Tokushun
- Mitsuo Kano
- Shohachi Kimura
- Tokusaburo Kobayashi
- Masato Kobayashi
- Kiyoshi Saito
- Goro Saito
- Kazuo Sakata
- Seiichi Sakurada
- Reinhard Sabye
- Ushio Shinohara
- Atsushi Suwa
- Asae Soya
- Toeko Tatsuno
- Tiger Tateishi
- Toshihide Tanii
- Sadao Tsubaki
- Chung Sang-Hwa
- Hisao Domoto
- Gakuryo Nakamura
- Kazumi Nakamura
- Hiroshi Nakamura
- Mamugi Natsume
- Hiroji Noda
- Pablo Picasso
- Minoru Hirata
- Horin Fukuoji
- Ichiro Fukuzawa
- Rieko Fujinami
- Kosai Hori
- Naoki Honjo
- Yoko Matsumoto
- Naofumi Maruyama
- Natsunosuke Mise
- Shin Miyazaki
- Mitsuko Miwa
- Tokuji Murai
- Kyoko Murase
- Hisaharu Motoda
- Sadamasa Motonaga
- Yasumasa Morimura
- Ken Yabuno
- Kaoru Yamaguchi
- Junji Yamada
- Mayuka Yamamoto
- Tadanori Yokoo
- Yoshito Yoshida
- Yoshio Yoshimura
- Lee Ufan
- Miki Watanabe
- Mitsuru Watanabe
*Works will be rotated during the run of the exhibition.
