Mori Art Museum Opens SIMPLE FORMS Exhibition Today
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 25, 2015
To mark its reopening following extensive refurbishment, the Mori Art Museum is proud to present "Simple Forms: Contemplating Beauty" from today, April 25 to Sunday, July 5, 2015.
In Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, explorations in fields such as mathematics, mechanical engineering, biology, geology and archeology sparked a renewed awareness of the aesthetics of "simple forms" that had a major influence on the design of industrial goods, buildings and so on. Similarly, the elegant lines of such "simple forms" exerted a powerful allure for artists, leading to the creation of many famous works of modern art.
Meanwhile, these simple, beautiful forms can also be found abundantly in nature, in primitive art the world over, in folk art, and in traditional cultures. In Japan, a similar aesthetic is embodied in the likes of crafts, tea ceremony utensils, Buddhist statues, and Zen paintings.
The exhibition brings together around 130 of these "simple forms" from around the world, and across the ages, presented in nine sections. It will offer a panoramic view of a timeless, universal aesthetic, showing the geographical spread and historic links of that aesthetic from prehistoric stone implement to dynamic, cutting-edge installations by contemporary artists. The universal beauty of "simple forms" may prompt us to rethink what truly brings richness to our lives.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
? Debut Asian showing of inaugural joint Centre Pompidou-Metz / Fondation d'entreprise Hermès exhibition
Centre Pompidou-Metz opened in 2010 as a branch of Centre Pompidou in Paris. "Simple Forms" is assembled in the first collaboration with the Fondation d' entreprise Hermès to mark four years since the opening of Centre Pompidou-Metz, which does not hold its own permanent collection, instead staging highly original special exhibitions. We have reconfigured the exhibition plan and added to the exhibition content, making the Tokyo show a unique Mori Art Museum presentation. This will also mark the first showing ever in Asia, of exhibition organized by Centre Pompidou-Metz.
? Crammed with renowned works from the collections of some of France's most famous art galleries and museums
"Simple Forms" will include a plethora of masterpieces from Centre Pompidou as well as the collections of premier French art museums such as the Musée Picasso, Fondation Le Corbusier, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Musée du quai Branly and the National Museum of Natural History. Many of these works will be shown in Japan for the first time.
? Presenting in a single exhibition "simple forms" from around the world and across the ages, in diverse genres
The exhibition will present in a single venue around 130 "simple forms" from across the globe spanning 20,000 years from prehistoric stone implements to contemporary art, and multiple genres - not only art, crafts and design but also the fields of archeology, biology, mathematics, physics and mechanical engineering.
? Exclusive to the Japanese exhibition, famous Japanese cultural artifacts including Black Raku tea bowls by Cho-jiro-
As manifestations of simple and beautiful forms in the culture of Japan, the exhibition will include prominent examples from Japanese art history, including a Zen calligraphy by Sengai and buddhist sculptures by Enku-, Black Raku tea bowls by master ceramicist Cho-jiro-, and Negoro lacquerware trays from the Nigatsudo Hall at Nara's Todaiji Temple.
? New works created for the Mori Art Museum
"Simple Forms" will also feature new, large-scale installations making optimal use of the spacious interior of the Mori Art Museum, courtesy of French and Japanese contemporary artists including Xavier Veilhan, Emmanuel Saulnier and Ohmaki Shinji, in addition to new works by Tanaka Nobuyuki and Kuroda Taizo.
Centre Pompidou-Metz
First offshoot of Centre Pompidou in Paris, Center Pompidou-Metz is an art center dedicated to modern and contemporary art, which opened in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France in 2010. It benefits from the experience, expertise and international reputation of Centre Pompidou and shares with its older sibling the values of innovation and generosity, and the same determination to engage all publics through a multidisciplinary program including live arts and preformances. The building was designed by a duet of Japanese and French architects: Ban Shigeru and Jean de Gastines.
Fondation d'entreprise Hermès
Fondation d' entreprise Hermès supports people and organisations seeking to learn, perfect, transmit and celebrate the skills and creativity that shape and inspire our lives today, and into the future. Guided by a central focus on artisan expertise and creative artistry, the Foundation' s activities explore two complementary avenues: know-how and creativity, know-how and the transmission of skills. The Foundation develops its own projects: exhibitions and artists' residencies in visual arts, the New Settings programme for the performing arts, the Prix Émile Hermès international design award, the Skills Academy, and projects in favour of biodiversity. It also supports partner organisations working in these areas around the globe. The Foundation' s unique mix of programmes and support is rooted in a single, underlying belief: Our gestures define us.
General Information
Organizers: Mori Art Museum, Centre Pompidou-Metz
Special Organizer: Fondation d'entreprise Hermès
Grant: l'Ambassade de France / Institut Français du Japon, Fondation Franco-Japonaise Sasakawa Corporate Sponsor: Obayashi Corporation
Support: Air France/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Champagne Pommery, Bombay Sapphire
Curators: Jean de Loisy (President, Palais de Tokyo), Nanjo Fumio (Director, Mori Art Museum)
Associate Curators: Sandra Adam-Couralet (Independent Curator), Tsubaki Reiko (Associate Curator, Mori Art Museum)
EXHIBITION OUTLINE
Today's technological innovations and advancement in areas such as transport and information / communications have boosted economic, cultural and personal interaction to an unprecedented extent, making our lives and society even more complex. Art forms too are expanding in ways that defy ready definition, and now encompass everything from sound and light to performance, and art with a core of audience participation.
This radical revolution in art could be said to have its inception in 19th and early 20th-century Europe. New discoveries and inventions in fields such as mathematics, physics, mechanical engineering, and biology spawned the enormous changes referred to as modernization. Modern thought gave rise to the idea of functional beauty, and people began to turn their attention to basic forms produced by nature and the scientific principles underpinning
the natural world. The result was a focus on a more simple aesthetic, one that had a major influence on the design of industrial goods, architecture, and the arts. Reflecting this modern trend in aesthetics we have a legacy of famous modern artworks in simple forms from many different artists.
These simple, beautiful forms can also be found in nature, and in many traditional cultures. "Simple forms" make their appearance in examples of primitive art and folk art around the world, such as stone implements and the bird stones of North America. In Japan, a similar aesthetic has been manifested over the centuries in the likes of crafts, tea ceremony utensils, Buddhist sculptures and Zen paintings.
For this exhibition, We have assembled around 130 carefully chosen examples of such "simple forms" from around the world and through the ages, and divided them into nine sections for display. These are 1. Metaphysical Landscapes, 2. Home for Solitude, 3. Cosmos and Moon, 4. Mechanical Forms, 5. Geometric Forms, 6. Forms of Nature, 7. Generative Forms, 8. Animal and Human, and 9. Enigma, and together they paint a picture of a universal aesthetic transcending time and space, from ancient prehistoric stone implements to dynamic, cutting-edge contemporary art installations.
Confronted with the issues of ensuring sustainable growth and coexistence amid the tumult of globalization, surely what we should be looking for ahead of diversity are essential universal qualities everyone can share. The tranquil and lyrical, universal beauty of "simple forms" spurs us to a simpler sort of lifestyle - unadorned, modest and back-to-basics - and inspires us to reconsider the true sources of plenty in our lives.
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