Chasing the Horizon: 1952-2022 Ancient, Impressionist, and Contemporary Art

In 2020, the Artizon Museum newly opened under its new name after being closed for five years. Ishibashi Shojiro, the founder of our predecessor organization, the Bridgestone Museum of Art, was a successful entrepreneur who built a collection focused on modern Western-style painting by Japanese artists and Western art, and established the museum. After the Ishibashi Foundation was instituted in 1956, the collection and he management of the museum was handed over to the Foundation. As well as managing the Foundation, Kanichiro, Shojiro’s son, collected abstract art with a focus on postwar France. After Kanichiro’s death, his heirs donated his personal collection and Shojiro’s collection of antique Japanese and Asian art to the Ishibashi Foundation, a gift that represented a huge step forward for the collection. Under the management of the Ishibashi Foundation, the Artizon Museum continuing to expand the collection and broaden the range of its activities. The museum is also embarking on new projects such as the Jam Sessions, which are joint performances by the collection and contemporary artists. This exhibition presents the trajectory of the 70 years of the Artizon Museum since 1952, when the Bridgestone Museum of Art opened, through approximately 170 works of art and documentation. We also reflect on our history through posters for past exhibitions, records of the Saturday Lectures, which have been held since the museum opened, an art film series, Shojiro’s journals of his travels in the West, and other archive materials.

*Online tickets must be purchased up to 10 minutes before the end of each time slot.
*Same day tickets on sale at museum are available only for time slots that have not reached full capacity.