MOMAT Collection

To introduce some features of the museum’s exhibitions of works from the collection: First, its scale is one of the largest in Japan, displaying approximately 200 works each term from the museum’s holdings of approximately 14,000 works acquired since its opening in 1952. Also, it is one of the foremost exhibitions in Japan, tracing the arc of Japanese modern and contemporary art from the end of the 19th century to the present day through a series of 12 rooms, each with its own specific theme.

Room 7 focuses on the work of Imai Hisae (1931–2009) and Okanoue Toshiko (b. 1928), two artists active during the same period. Both enrolled at Bunka Gakuin in 1950, where Imai studied in the fine arts department and Okanoue in the design department. Although they did not have a close relationship as students, each received encouragement in her work from the poet and critic Takiguchi Shuzo. Both also showed work at this museum early in their careers: Okanoue exhibited her collages in Abstraction and Fantasy (1953), and Imai presented Ophelia, the series that became her signature work, in Contemporary Japanese Photographies 1960 (1961). Their working approaches differ, yet their art draws on a shared imaginative vocabulary in which the female body moves freely across boundaries and takes on other forms. These visions also reflect the sensibilities of the postwar era. This room additionally features works by Fukushima Hideko and Miyawaki Aiko, who also studied at Bunka Gakuin, as well as Narahara Ikko, who was active in photography during the same period as Imai, tracing the wider landscape of art in those years.