TAB Event - "Le Corbusier and the National Museum of Western Art" Exhibition

"Le Corbusier and the National Museum of Western Art" Exhibition

This event has ended.
At National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo
Media: Drawing, Architecture, Art Talk

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park, Tokyo, in 1959 (Shôwa 34) as an institution for the housing and public display of the Matsukata Collection, returned to the Japanese people by the French government. This small exhibition focuses on the museum’s Main Building, designed by the French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965).

The construction of the Main Building was completed under the supervision of three Japanese architects who studied under Le Corbusier, namely Junzo Sakakura, Kunio Maekawa and Takamasa Yoshizaka, and is the only building designed by Le Corbusier in Japan. Further, the Main Building stands as one of the three buildings that were actually realized based on Le Corbusier’s “Museum of Unlimited Extension” concept. Through a display of photographs and documents, this exhibition traces the building's role as evidence of Le Corbusier’s reception in Japan, and as the starting point of postwar Japanese–French cultural exchange. Further, twelve plans, sketches and models by Le Corbusier reveal his intentions and concept for the Main Building. These works will be displayed in two of the museum’s Permanent Collection Galleries. We hope that visitors to the exhibition will enjoy strolling around the Main Building itself, and that the exhibition will further deepen their understanding of this space created by Le Corbusier.

A lecture series has been organized in conjunction with the exhibition. Please visit the website for details.