"The city where you can meet Shunsuke Matsumoto" was the theme of the
gallery, located on the side of Suidoyama, when it opened in April,1989. The gallery has
the largest collection in the country of paintings by Shunsuke and Hideo Noda.
Approximately 1300 works collected over the past 40 years comprise the 'Okawa Collection'.
Those on exhibit include modern paintings and sculpture by the likes of Ichiro
Fukuzawa, Takeji Fujishima, Kaoru Yamaguchi, Toshinobu Onosatoh, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst,
Marc Chagall and Henry Moore. Important Japanese pieces include Shunsuke Matsumoto's
'Town', Hideo Noda's 'City', Goro Mantetsu's 'Tsutizawa View', Kaoru Yamaguchi's 'Kimono
and a Cross', Takeji Fujisima's 'Scenery'.
"You experience art the same way you do music. The information you receive is two
dimensional." says former Daiei vice-president, Mr. Okawa. "The collection began
with photo gravure from paintings that had appeared in magazines. They are very important
to me and I treat them that way, just like I do the major international pieces exhibited
in the gallery." - the feelings of a true collector.
The gallery building apposes a group of trees and from inside the tea shop or the
research and planning room you have a view of the city. For those elderly and other people
who are unable to travel far, from time to time the gallery holds free exhibits at such
places as the Sanbun Hall Gallery on its regular weekly holiday.
Hours are from 10am-5pm. Admission is 800 yen for adults, 500 yen for university and
high school students, and 300 yen for junior high students. Closed Mondays. |
