This event has ended.
Inaugural Exhibition
Our City-Portrait of Osaka
2022-08-06 – 2022-10-02
Summary
In celebration of this long-awaited opening, the exhibition Our City—Portrait of Osaka focuses on the city of Osaka, the museum's home.
Osaka has experienced a lot of changes between the start of the Meiji Period in the 1860s and the present day, following the path of modernization and enduring the ravages of war. Two new centuries have arrived, and Osaka City is now a metropolis, but it has retained its distinctive character and continues to be "our city," a city for everyone.
This exhibition is an in-depth exploration of the charm and appeal of Osaka, drawing mainly from the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka’s diverse collection including paintings, photos, and posters, augmented by pieces from museums, art museums, companies, and other organizations in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and elsewhere.
It evokes nostalgia for Osaka’s past, and may be an opportunity to discover aspects of Osaka you did not know about in places you see every day. The exhibition invites you on a trip through time into Osaka’s past, presenting many sides to Osaka that have been a part of its history over the last century and a half.
Information about the Exhibition
| Dates | August 6 - October 2 2022 Closed on Mondays (except September 19) |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | 10:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30) |
| Venue | Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka 5F Galleries |
| Organizer | Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka and NHK Osaka Broadcasting Station |
| Special cooperation | Sekisui House, Ltd. |
| Admission fee | Adults: 1,200 yen University/High school students: 800 yen Junior high school/Elementary students: Free admission * The museum may close without notice in the event of disasters or other circumstances beyond our control. * Prices include tax. * Set of tickets for both Part 1 and 2 is also available. (Adults: 2,000 yen; University/High school students: 1,200 yen. Available until the end of Part 1.) * A discount is available for Inaugural Special Exhibition Amedeo Modigliani ticketholders. (Present your Our City—Portrait of Osaka exhibition admission ticket (or ticket stub) or e-ticket at the museum's reception counter to receive the following discounted prices on adult or university/high school student tickets for the Amedeo Modigliani exhibition: Adults: 1,800 yen → 1,500 yen; University/High school students: 1,500 yen → 1,200 yen) - Valid for one person per applicable ticket. - Discounts cannot be given after a ticket has been purchased. - Cannot be used together with other discounts. |
| List of Works | List of Works |
Part 2: Resonance with celebration—Postwar Showa Period, Heisei Period, and Reiwa (August 6–October 2)
This chapter presents the city and art of Osaka from the end of World War II to the present day. Yearning for the new and buffeted by the unexpected, Osaka saw extreme ups and downs, from the postwar recovery when people rose resiliently from among burned-out ruins to the World Expo in 1970, and on to today.
Some of the things we now take for granted, such as household appliances and industrially-produced homes, were then ideals that represented a new lifestyle. They are also a part of the times that shaped our current lifestyles and behavior. There was an explosion of material abundance, and at the same time, artistic activity gained further momentum. Advertising became a world of colorful competition, with designers battling it out through their art, honing their talents in the process.
After the Japan World Exposition 1970, which drew people into one of the most exiting spots in the world, and on into the twenty-first century, Osaka continued to be a great metropolis. This chapter traces our city's development and transformation through some 300 works and materials, including paintings, posters, household appliances, and a full-scale industrially-produced home.
(More details about Part 2 are scheduled to be announced in May 2022.)
Hayakawa Yoshio,Dai 11 Kai no Shusaikai (11th Kimono Show at Kintetsu Department Store)
1953
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
National SAGA television TC-96G
1965
Panasonic Museum collection
Full-scale 1970s industrially-produced home (conceptual drawing)
Sekisui House, Ltd.
Exhibition main visuals by the Expo 2025 logo creator
The main visuals for Our City-Portrait of Osaka were created by Shimada Tamotsu (Shimada Design Inc.), the head of Team Inari, which created the winning entry for the 2025 Osaka Kansai Expo logo.
Osaka—From Toyono in the north to Senshu in the south, from the foot of Mount Ikoma in the east to the coast of Osaka Bay in the west, life in Osaka is surprisingly rich with diverse culture and different environments, interacting every day with people outside the prefecture and throughout the world. In order to express this distinctiveness, I created two versions reflecting the unique form of the map of Osaka Prefecture, and assigned the images, each of which extend outwards, to Part 1 and 2. By making the keynote color black, the visuals link this extension to the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka.
From left: Flyers announcing Parts 1 and 2 of Our City—Portrait of Osaka