Hayashi Tadamasa: The Paris Art Dealer Who Promoted Japonisme

Finished

Tadamasa Hayashi (1853–1906) was the first Japanese individual to trade in Japanese art in the West. Having learned French in his native country, he attended the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, or World’s Fair, as an interpreter. This was a time when Japanese art and crafts were gaining a considerable following abroad. Hayashi decided to stay in Paris after the World’s Fair and eventually started a dealership. The paintings, crafts, and ukiyo-e prints he imported directly from Japan for sale, together with his profound knowledge of the items, were highly appreciated by Western admirers of Japanese art, and proved a driving force in the rise of Japonisme. While showing Japanese art and crafts at expositions in various places, and conducting his activities as a dealer, Hayashi became aware of the important cultural role played by art museums in the West. Dreaming of one day building an art museum in Japan, little by little he built up a collection of Western art, mainly works by contemporary artists. Hayashi’s vision for a museum of Western art in his homeland, in fact, preceded by as many as 25 years the similar enterprise of Kojiro Matsukata, whose collection would eventualy form the core of National Museum Of Western Art, Tokyo. The Hayashi Plan, however, came to nothing, due to his early death after returning to Japan. His collection was scattered through a number of sales held before and after his death. This exhibition, which features works from the collection of Yasuko Kigi, a historical novelist and wife of Hayashi’s grandson, traces the life of Hayashi with special focus on his involvement in expositions and related activities, the friendships he built up through Japanese and Western art and crafts, and the fate of his collection. Hayashi at times has been negatively portrayed as someone who drained away from Japan a large amount of its art and crafts.This exhibition hopes to encourage a reevaluation of the activities of a man who devoted his life to cultural exchange between Japan and Europe through art.

Schedule

Feb 19 (Tue) 2019-May 19 (Sun) 2019

Opening Hours Information

Hours	9:30-17:30 Closes at 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Closed	Monday Open on a public holiday Monday but closed on the following day. Closed during the New Year holidays.
Notice	9:30–21:00 on Feb. 22, Mar. 29, and Apr. 26–May 6

Fee

Adults ¥500, University Students ¥250

Website

http://www.nmwa.go.jp/en/exhibitions/2019hayashi.html