We visit the Hara Museum ARC with its director Aono Kazuko. Located in a verdant setting about two hours from Tokyo in Gunma Prefecture, the museum opened in 1988 and presents the pioneering collection of postwar and contemporary art assembled by Hara Toshio. For its singular building, Hara Toshio approached architect Isozaki Arata.
The Hara Museum ARC presents the collection of postwar and contemporary art formed by museum founder and owner Hara Toshio, as well as traditional arts from Japan and Asia gathered by Hara Rokuro, his great grandfather. The museum draws upon its peaceful natural environment and the expansive sky around it, presenting numerous outdoor works and a program of special exhibitions that often resonate with the landscape.
For its singular building, Hara Toshio approached architect Isozaki Arata. We start the visit with an impressive and immersive installation by Kusama Yayoi (born 1929):
Yayoi Kusama, Mirror Room (Pumpkin), 1990 ©YAYOI KUSAMA
Then Aono-san introduces a video installation by Tabaimo: Midnight Sea, 4 min. (loop), 2006/2008.
Next is the museum’s open-view storage, where amongst many works hanging on painting racks viewers will notice several photographs by Morimura Yasumasa on the back wall. Aono-san shares an anecdote in relation with works by Lee Ufan in the collection: From Line and From Point, both paintings on canvas from 1979. In the storage space, viewers will also notice a further work by Yayoi Kusama, a mixed-media installation titled Self Obliteration from 1980.
The last gallery, called the Kankai Pavilion, is reserved for the display of pieces from the Hara Rokuro collection of traditional Japanese and East Asian art. Interestingly, they are shown together with contemporary art works and in a space whose proportions and features are inspired by shoin-zukuri, a style of traditional Japanese architecture. As Aono-san introduces the Kankai Pavilion, we can notice a group of works by NaraYoshitomo in the background, and in the next room drawings by Christo hanging on a wall.
Here Aono-san mentions the following works:
Maruyama Okyo, Mandarin duck with pine tree in the snow, hanging scroll, color on silk, Edo period, 18thcentury
Kinoshita Oju, Court Lady, hanging scroll, colour on silk, Edo period, late 18th-early 19th century
Shiba Kokan, Landscape of Mount Fuji, hanging scroll, colour on paper, Edo period, late 18th century
Yokoyama Taikan, Seaside landscape with sunrise, hanging scroll, colour on silk, Meiji period, 20th century
Uchikura Hitomi, Gouttes de Lune, 2017 © Hitomi Uchikura
Aono-san and Sophie then discuss Field with the moon, the subject called Musashino in Japanese, an eight-fold screen dating from the Edo period, first half of the 17th century.
At the end of the visit, Aono-san and Sophie walk to Sunspace for Shibukawa, an installation by Olafur Eliasson dating from 2009. The polished stainless-steel structure is an observatory designed to chart the path of the sun across the sky. Inside the work, Aono-san refers to the concept of ichigo ichie. Literally meaning ‘one time one meeting’, this expression has its origin in the tea ceremony and reminds us that each moment is unique, and each encounter is singular, unrepeatable.
Insight:
The Hara Museum ARC originally opened as an annex to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, which closed permanently in 2021. The Hara Museum ARC is now therefore the sole venue to house the art collection formed by Hara Toshio, as well as the works of art gathered by his great-grandfather Hara Rokuro.
Please note that visitors should contact the museum in advance to request a tour to the open-view storage, or tours given in English. Visitors should also be aware that the Hara Museum ARC closes for a winter break every year between early January and early March, when access becomes difficult due to the snow.
Museum’s website:
https://www.haramuseum.or.jp/en/arc/
Supported by the Toshiba International Foundation