The collection of The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art is composed of artworks from the masters of the French Rococo period, Romanticism, Neo-Classicism , Realism, Impressionism, the Ecole de Paris, and others. Visitors are presented a timeline of French art which encompasses 300 years, from the 18th to the 20th century. Furthermore, the collection includes Art Nouveau glasswork and furniture from the end of the 19th century.
In the galleries on the 5th floor, the first area to be visited, visitors may view the history of French
art through the masterpieces of different periods, from Rococo to the Ecole de Paris, displayed in each
gallery in chronological order. The galleries are spacious and elegantly decorated in order to give
visitors a sense of each era, so that they may fully enjoy the art. To enhance your appreciation of the
art, we have removed the glass and plexiglas from the frames, to help you enjoy more directly the
textures and colors of the works in the same way that the artists themselves did. The descriptive captions
are minimal, limited to ”the name of the artist,” “title of the work,” ”year of the work,” thus enabling
visitors to benefit from the maximum enjoyment of the exhibition space, as if they were stepping back in
time to the world of the artists.
The Art Nouveau glasswork and furniture are exhibited on
the 4th floor. The Art Nouveau movement, which spread from Nancy, a city in northeastern France, had been
heavily influenced by Japanese art, and is said to have been at the helm of Europe’s progression from the
modern age to the contemporary age. Appreciating these works of art will help to familiarize people today
with earlier remote French art and its period, so that they can feel much closer to such works and their
history.
The Yamazaki Mazak Museum of Art features a collection of artwork from the artists, artists who are
obviously less well known to the art world in Japan. However, it is a great pleasure to know the
historical background of these works of art, which, for example, influenced the Impressionists.
Therefore, this museum offers free audio guidance to those who want a deeper appreciation of the individual story and
historical context of each artwork. Free audio guidance service has become increasingly popular in recent
years in museums of other countries, though it is rarely seen in Japan. This museum will probably be the
first museum in Japan to introduce this system for a permanent exhibition.
Good location, with a direct connection to Shinsakae-machi Station on the Nagoya Subway Higashiyama
Line, 7 minutes from Nagoya station, the gateway to Nagoya City.
Visitors can enter the museum directly from the subway station Shinsakae-machi to avoid rain.
