Takehisa Yumeji Museum - Bunkyo City

20210828妻と初訪問。 弥生美術館（高畠華宵作品が中心）に併設されています。 華宵の美しくもシャープな女性画と、柔和で母性を感じさせる夢二の女性画は非常に対称的であり、両者を比較しながら興味深く拝見しました。 夢二・華宵いずれも、現代の日本イラストレーションに大きな影響を与えた偉人だと思いました！

My favorite little gallery. Lost in it...

Very small but excellent little museum, curating great shows.

Went back for a 2nd time to finish checking out the permanent Takehisa Yumeji exhibition. Too bad I didn't have time to try the good curry my friend told me about.

This is a very small scale museum for Yumeji but does a pretty good job featuring some of the artist’s key work. For a much greater collection of his work, you should visit the one in Ikaho, Gunma prefecture.

Really great work on display. Got given 2 beautiful postcards to celebrate the artists birthday. Admission 700yen... better to buy a multi pass that includes gardens and castle. No photos as that's the rule!

Curated in Japanese only, no English, but content is top-notched. Taisho era’s Takehisa Yumeji’s work is on permanent exhibit, and is the highlight. Showcases both Nihonga style works, poetry, and my most favorite: his kawaii designs (origin of modern day cuteness culture in Japan). It’s a visual treat that will appeal to the creative bunch, especially those in ads or visual designs. The museum is small but has a really good selection of souvenirs such as wrapping papers, masking tapes, tote bags, etc. The museum cafe also serves delicious vegetable curry.

弥生美術館・竹久夢二美術館 Yayoi Museum & Takehisa Yumeji Museum in Yayoi, Bunkyo Ward. The Yaoi Museum exhibits artworks (book illustrations, manga, magazines) created from the late Meiji Era to the present. The 20th Century ukiyo-e artist, Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934), is the subject of the museum named for him. My second favorite Tokyo Museum (my favorite is the Ota Museum in Harajuku). The exhibits in the Yayoi Museum are always artistically stimulating and often feature artists generally not afforded detailed exhibits. I am disappointed with the disappearance of the institutions' web page. They do have a presence on Facebook. The museum commentary is generally in Japanese. A bit of advance research into the artist(s) being featured is in order. The Yayoi museum is on three floors (stairs only) and the Yumeji Museum is on two floors (and connects to the Yayoi Museum building). There is no photography except in a couple of public areas. Some recent Yayoi Museum exhibits I was privileged to view: May 2017 100th Anniversary of the birth of Nagasawa Setsu 長沢節 (1917-1999) fashion illustrator. Jan. 2018 Takita Yu 滝田ゆう (1932-1990) -manga artist famous for the Terajima-cho stories 寺島町奇譚 (serialized autobiographic work of his childhood in Tokyo's Shitamachi neighborhood during WWII including the firebombing on 10 March 1945) and his Rakugo Theater anime 落語劇場. This exhibition was FANTASTIC! When I visited the museum in Jan. 2020, the gift shop (mostly postcards and books) was still selling the catalogue published for this event. I wish there was a museum dedicated to Takita Yu. Jan. 2019 Baron Yoshimoto バロン吉元 (born 1940). This exhibit included an appearance by the artist (alas, not during my visit). His black and white works are mesmerizing. Jan. 2020 "Another Utagawa School? Kuniyoshi-Yoshitoshi-Toshihide-Hirezaki Eihō 鰭崎英朋 (1880-1968)-Jinbo Tomoyo 神保朋世 (1902-1994)". This was an interesting exhibit putting forward the theory of 20th century artistic inheritors of the Kuniyoshi-Yoshitoshi-Toshihide school of ukiyo-e. I especially enjoyed the sumo rikishi portraits of Eihō. Many rare ukiyo-e pieces. In Jan. 2020, the Yumeji Museum highlighted the adoption of the hakama by women in universities and sports in the works of Takehisa Yumeji. The Yayoi Museum was originally founded to display the works of Takabatake Kashō 高畠華宵 (1888-1966) and there are a selection of his works on the 3rd floor of the museum as well as a stone monument in the front walls of the institution. There is a small cafe/coffeehouse in front of the museum entrance.