National Museum of Art, Osaka
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The National Museum of Art (国立国際美術館 Kokuritsu Kokusai Bijutsukan?) is a subterranean Japanese art museum located on Nakanoshima, an island between the Dōjima River and the Tosabori River about 5 minutes west of Higobashi Station in central Osaka. The exhibits mainly consist of modern art both from Japan and abroad, but other temporary exhibits are also held.
Its Japanese name translates as the "National Museum of International Art".
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[edit] History
The museum originates from the Expo Art Gallery which was built as part of Expo '70, held in Suita in the outskirts of Osaka. The site was converted into Expo Memorial Park after the Expo, but the gallery was preserved for possible future use as a permanent art museum. It re-opened in 1977 as the National Museum of Art, as part of Expo Memorial Park. Due to the aging of the building as well as growing space limitations, the museum was temporarily closed in Japnary 2004. The old museum was demolished and turned into a car park, while the exhibits were transferred to its more central, current location in Nakanoshima, which opened in November 2004.
[edit] The Museum
The present museum was designed by César Pelli, an architect headquartered in Connecticut, USA. Interestingly, most of the museum facilities are located underground, next to the Osaka Science Museum. The entrance, auditorium, restaurant and the museum shop is located just beneath ground level, with exhibits and storage facilities on two floors beneath. Various temporary exhibitions held by newspaper firms, which are not limited to modern art, are held on the bottom floor, with the permanent exhibitions and artist-focused temporary exhibits on the intermediate floor. Pelli suggested that the designon the most upper level represented waving reeds in the wind.
[edit] Collections
Most collections are from the post-war era. Pre-war exceptions include work by Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Tsuguharu Foujita and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
[edit] Access
- Osaka Municipal Subway Yotsubashi Line: Higobashi Station
- Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line: Fukushima Station
- JR West JR Tōzai Line: Shin-Fukushima station
- JR West Osaka Loop Line: Fukushima Station
- Osaka Municipal Bus: 10-minute ride from Osaka Station aboard numbers 53 or 75, alight at Taminobashi.
- Osaka Municipal Bus: 10-minute ride from Osaka Station aboard number 88, alight at Tosabori Itchome.
- Osaka Municipal Bus: 10-minute ride from Temmabashi, 5-minute ride from Yodoyabasfi Station aboard number 107, alight at Tosabori Itchome.
- Hanshin Expressway: Nakanoshima-nishi Exit (Route 3), Tosabori Exit (Route 1) or Fukushima Exit. (Route 11)
[edit] External links
- Official website (English)
