Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Japan

Last Sunday it was a dad and kids day out. My friend and I left our wives at home and took the kids to the park in the town next to ours, as it is huge and a little change of scenery is always necessary with kids. But being adults, we wanted to include something in the daytrip we could appreciate and also introduce the boys to the world of art in the form of a museum. The kids, all under the age of 7, obviously could not appreciate it. But the key is to just plant the idea in their minds. We ran through this place so fast as the kids kept on touching things even though the staff and ourselves told them not too. I guess it was their way of getting us the leave ASAP. It worked. But here are a few pictures I snapped.

This first thing that caught my eye was the glass walls on the mini bridge/walkway to the museum over a pond. The glass walls makes it easy for even small kids to see the koi in the water and is very thoughtful when you think about it as well as aesthetically pleasing.

The main building itself is very simplistic on the outside as it just seems expansive and flat with no real unique design points. But the café on the property is a different story. Not to say simplicity isn't appealing. But while the building has a simplistic design, the property has some details that enhances it.

For instance, this stone field, interestingly it was one of the only things the kids enjoyed at the museum. While flowers would have been welcomed, the stones all the same size was like an exhibition in itself. They would probably be more pleasing in the spring when the grass is green as now, it is just two dull tones of grey and brown. I didn't realize this until looking at this photo.

Here we have the exhibition billboard which reads "Poster designs by Nagai Kazumasa". I am just realizing how great these posters were after doing some research as I mentioned we didn't get time to take it all in. There were some seriously creative poster designs on exhibition. No doubt Nagai's work influenced many designers around the world.

Another outdoor feature that balanced the plainness of the building itself was the waters bedside the pathway leading to the museum itself. The building to the right of the waters is the café I mentioned before. To get to it, you cross the waters on a raised up slab of concrete. There was no wall or border separating the walkway from the waters and at some point I thought one of the kids would end up in it, but they didn't.

The Museum of Art seemed like a really great place. I saw many sophisticated looking couples coming in and out, and then there was my friend and I with our rugrats 😄. I shall be back very soon, more than likely by myself as I plan to really soak up the exhibition and actually try out the cafe.

Here is a picture of the café taken from within the museum. The last shot also made me realize that the museum isn't just flat and expansive but sections of it do have some elegant curves, they just can't be seen where I took the first set of pictures as it is blocked by the café which takes on a similar shape.

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And this is my money shot 😎

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What was on exhibition

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The exhibition taking place was about the history of Japanese graphic design, specifically showcasing the work one of its pioneers, Kazumasa Nagai. He is now 92 years old and started graphic design in the 1950s. He helped develop the Graphic Design Center in Japan along with other great designers such as Ichimasu Ryokan, Yusaku Kamekura, Kazumitsu Tanaka. The exhibition showcases 140 of Nagai's works that were donated. Below are some of those designs which I found on the Gunma Museum of Arts Website. Of course, no　pictures could be taken inside the museum, especially of art.

《LIFE (Poto)》 2002	《KAZUMASA NAGAI Exhibition (Rabbit)》 1991

"JAGDA Poster Exhibition" JAPAN "(turtle)" 1988	《SAVE (Red / Kirin)》 1997

KAZUMASA NAGAI DESIGN LIFE (Tori / Month) 1994
This is one of his most popular works.

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Source

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Thanks for reading, hope I didn't bore you too much.
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Until next time, Dmilliz signing out.