Chapters

Chapter 1: Hello! Super Collectors

The history of the collection held by the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka started in 1983. This chapter commences by introducing Yamamoto Hatsujiro’s collection, which prompted the creation of a concept for the art museum, as well as the Tanaka Tokumatsu Collection and the Takahata Art Collection, which were donated early in that history. Earnest efforts at collecting that reflected the museum’s collection policy began once the museum’s Planning Office was established in 1990. The second half of this chapter presents works by artists such as Koide Narashige, Kitano Tsunetomi, Maeda Toshiro, and Yoshihara Jiro, acquired as modern and contemporary artworks related to Osaka, one of the features of the collection.

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  SAEKI Yuzo
  Postman,1928

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  Marie LAURENCIN
  Les Princesses (The Princesses) ,1928

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  IKEDA yoson
  Osaka in the Snow, 1928

Chapter 2: Hello! Super Stars

The museum is proud to have a substantial collection of significant works that represent major art movements from the modern era to the present day. This chapter includes Amedeo Modigliani's Nu Couché aux Cheveux Dénoués and a number of works by major Surrealist artists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, and René Magritte. Other highlights of the museum's collection are masterpieces from the New York art scene by Mark Rothko, Frank Stella, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others. The values of artworks like these have risen sharply, making the current acquisition of such works difficult. The extent of the museum's collection is due to the policy of prioritizing the building of a substantial collection before constructing an art museum. Many of the works selected for this exhibition have been shown in previous collection exhibitions or lent to other art museums. With the opening of the museum, the collection is finally being showcased at home in Osaka.

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  Amedeo MODIGLIANI
  Reclining Nude with Loose Hair,1917

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  Alberto GIACOMETTI
  Le Nez (The Nose),1947

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  René MAGRITTE
  Le Bouquet Tout Fait (The Ready-made Bouquet),1957

Chapter 3: Hello! Super Visions

This chapter includes about 200 exhibits including graphic works, furniture, and other design-related times, all presented together. It follows the history of design from the second half of the nineteenth century to the 1980s, ranging from an 1859 Michael Thonet chair to examples of Art Nouveau, Vienna Secession, Futurism, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism, Art Deco, Scandinavian design, Swiss design, Italian design, Olympic posters, and Postmodern design. Avant-garde was a movement that spread throughout the arts. Consequently, to follow the course of avant-garde design movements, the exhibits in this chapter include paintings and photographs from the museum's collection in addition to furniture, posters, and product designs. When the museum embarked on collecting examples of design, its initial acquisition was a group of items by designers from the Vienna Secession, including the rare original pieces by Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser, and others exhibited here. Also exhibited are a large number of highly attractive graphic poster works by designers such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Bonard, part of the Suntory Poster Collection that has been entrusted to the museum. Scandinavian design is represented by Alvar Aalto furniture, Swiss design by Josef Müller-Brockmann posters, and Italian design by a Joe Colombo chair. Finally, be sure to examine the six pieces of furniture by world-renowned designer Kuramata Shiro, especially Miss Blanche, his chair embedded with red roses.

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  Henri de TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
  Moulin Rouge: La Goulue,1891
  Suntory Poster Collection (deposited in Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka)

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  KURAMATA Shiro
  Miss Blanche
  designed: 1988, manufactured: 1989

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  Koloman MOSER
  Armchair
  designed: 1903, manufactured: 1903-1904