Exhibitions

In 1926, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum opened in Ueno under the name the “Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum.” Its founding was made possible by SATO Keitaro, a coal industrialist from Kitakyushu, who provided a million-yen donation as funds for the museum’s construction. On opening, the Museum devoted itself primarily to serving artist groups as a venue to showcase their works. While operating in this capacity, it had occasion to stage now-legendary avant-garde exhibitions and, in time, became a major venue for exhibitions featuring masterpieces of Western painting. The Museum also broke ground with initiatives to help citizens become familiar with art and understand it more deeply, and today, it is steadily expanding opportunities for their participation. The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum is like a plaza continually abuzz with art creators and art viewers. A hundred years have seen us undergo transformation with the construction of a New Museum Building, on the site of our Original Museum Building, from which to unfurl activities furthering our mission to become “a place for creativity and coaction.”
In commemorating the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s 100th Anniversary, this exhibition will retrace the Museum’s journey by recalling the activities it unrolled in its halls and the people involved in them. We hope visitors will enjoy this opportunity to re-examine the history and role of Japan's first public art museum, through precious materials centered on the Museum's archives.