The wind blowing in my hometown

 

Matsumoto City has been selected this year as an East Asian Cultural City by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and various related projects will be undertaken. We hope that this will be an opportunity for people both in Japan and abroad to learn about the unique culture that has taken root in a climate far removed from urban areas and surrounded by high mountain ranges.

 

As a spring special exhibition, we will be holding "Tsugu minä perhonen" (April 16th - June 7th). minä perhonen is a leading Japanese fashion brand. Its fabrics and clothing, created with delicate techniques rooted in handcraftsmanship, are supported by many people. This will be an exhibition befitting the annual "May of Crafts" month. The business was started by founder Akira Minagawa, who was inspired by Nordic culture, and I feel that the cool climate and natural environment of Scandinavia, the birthplace of outstanding modern design, somehow connects to Matsumoto. I would like to draw attention to how the design thinking drawn from the natural world accompanies the daily lives of modern people and creates a sense of happiness.　

 

The "Eugène Boudin Exhibition" (July 7th - August 30th) showcases the captivating landscape paintings of Eugène Boudin (1824-1898), a painter born in a port town in Normandy, northern France. Here, too, we learn how the natural beauty of his hometown's coastline gave rise to his art. You can almost feel the pleasant sea breeze from the clouds floating in the vast sky and the ever-changing seascape. His technique of leaving his studio and capturing the "here and now" in the light-filled outdoors on canvas gave birth to Impressionism, as exemplified by Monet and others.

 

"Sustainable WorldFrom the perspectives of Daishi Sato and Akiko Isobe"(September 19th - December 6th)" is a project in which two photographers with ties to Shinshu collaborate with a company's cutting-edge technology. Akiko Isobe presents avant-garde works as an art director for advertising and magazines. In contrast to her pop and colorful artificial world, Daishi Sato photographs nature. He travels the world, mainly in Alaska, and continues to document animals living in the harsh wilderness.

 

The history of modern art from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era is often discussed solely in terms of painting, and this perspective is often overlooked. One missing element is calligraphy from the Meiji period. The "200th Anniversary of Birth of Nakabayashi Gochiku Exhibition" (January 16th - March 22nd) is a retrospective of Nakabayashi Gochiku (1827-1913), a calligrapher of the Meiji period who had strong ties to Shinshu (present-day Nagano Prefecture). Just as Western-style painters of the time aimed for France, Gochiku studied calligraphy in Qing China, bringing back the traditions of ancient calligraphy and epigraphy. Modern calligraphy, characterized by its clear black and white forms, originated here. Gochiku, a solitary calligrapher, left behind the words, "My work will be understood a hundred years from now," and this exhibition will be that opportunity.

 

Matsumoto City Museum of Art Director Minoru Ogawa