December 2018 events in Tokyo

The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. is one of the world’s most distinguished collections of impressionist and modern American and European art. Founded by art collector Duncan Phillips in 1921, the modern art museum has been collaborating with institutions and foundations around the world to share its impressive collection. This year (2018), The Phillips Collection turns 100 years old, and to celebrate this centennial milestone, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum is hosting an exhibition with approximately 75 pieces of the Collection’s most treasured artworks. Among the highlights are all-time favourites by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh.

The symbiotic relationship between photography and architecture began in 1827, when French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1765-1833) took the first ever photograph of a corner of a building through a window. Niépce was searching for ways to produce images, and thus set up a device called a camera obscura, which captured and projected scenes illuminated by sunlight. The result he got was a blurred image of a building, but from then on, a new medium was born and the link was created – photography has since been used to document old and new structures as well as cityscapes. Taken mostly from the museum’s collection, this exhibition will feature architectural stills by local and international photographers. The works on display include works from the late 1820s to newer works by contemporary photographers. Here you will discover and experience architecture from the photographer’s perspective.

Check out an exhibition on anime, explore art in Asian societies and contemplate art as a form of empowerment