Tokyo is a treat for art lovers. From big public institutions to private museums and galleries, there are thousands of venues across the city that show everything from precious Japanese artefacts to global names in contemporary art.
Some sites are noteworthy for their architecture: the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is housed in a 1933 art deco residence adorned with glass by René Lalique (currently the backdrop for an exhibition of works by British ceramic artist Lucie Rie). Other locations are known for their speciality: the Ota Memorial Museum of Art is dedicated to the art of ukiyo-e (with a collection of some 14,000). While there are plenty of spaces to head to in the city, here are three photography exhibitions to start with this summer.
‘Hiroshi Sugimoto: Extinction’
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Hiroshi Sugimoto is Japanese art’s most impressive polymath: antiquities dealer, tea practitioner and architect (his Enoura Observatory in Odawara is a notable example) are just some of his many hats. At the heart of his creativity, however, is his exquisite gelatin silver photography, which is the subject of this extensive exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art.
The show features works from all 13 of Sugimoto’s photographic series, taken from the 1970s to today, in three roughly chronological chapters. New additions to renowned series such as Seascapes, Dioramas and Stylized Sculpture are seen for the first time. The show was hung and lit by the artist and his team, putting Sugimoto’s technical brilliance on display.
Also worth a look is the side exhibition on the third floor, featuring the museum’s own collection of works by Sugimoto and the artist’s thought-revealing notebooks. The exhibition title is double edged: a reference to the anticipated extinction of silver gelatin as a medium, and eventually, the work of the artist himself.
‘Hiroshi Sugimoto: Extinction’ is on view until 13 September; momat.go.jp
‘I’m So Happy You Are Here’
Hikarie Hall, Bunkamura Museum of Art
This touring exhibition (which accompanies the English-French bilingual book of the same name) is finally making its way to Japan. The show celebrates the work of female Japanese photographers who were active from the 1950s to the present. First opening to great acclaim in Arles in 2024, this expanded Japanese iteration, curated by art critic Mariko Takeuchi, features more photographers – bringing the line-up to 30 names – and comes with its own catalogue.
The artists featured in the exhibition span generations and photographic approaches. Artists include Eiko Yamazawa, born in 1899 and one of Japan’s first female photographers; Hitomi Watanabe, who began working in the 1960s; and contemporary star Mari Katayama, whose work often explores her identity as a double amputee. Seen together, the works offer fresh perspectives on historical events.
The roughly 200 works on view address memory, the body and the everyday through installations, collages and moving images, in addition to traditional still photography. The exhibition is presented by the Bunkamura Museum of Art – currently mid-relocation and expansion – which has staged the show on its home turf in Shibuya. To complement the exhibition, the museum is hosting related events, including art screenings at Bunkamura Le Cinéma Shibuya Miyashita.
The exhibition runs from 4 July to 26 August; bunkamura.co.jp
‘Tomorrow’s Dining Table’
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Step inside Yebisu Garden Place in Ebisu and you’ll find the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (TOP). Founded in 1995 by Tokyo’s metropolitan government, it’s the city’s only public museum dedicated to photography, serving an important role in displaying historical and contemporary still and moving images.
Tomorrow’s Dining Table draws from TOP’s roughly 39,000-strong collection to look at food from a social perspective, focusing on its connection to families, aging, farming and the environment. There are photographs by 14 artists on display, including Rinko Kawauchi and Tokuko Ushioda, whose works tap into the shared memory of the family dinner; and Minoru Yamada, one of the first generation of postwar Okinawan photographers, represented by a touching image of a man and his children at Itoman fishing port in 1960.
The exhibition is open from 2 July to 21 September; topmuseum.jp
