Notice on the Opening of the Special Exhibition “Aves Japonicae (5) – A Labyrinth of Colors”
→Press Release: PDF file［500KB］
Main Features of the Exhibition
- Drawings of birds and the corresponding specimens shown side by side.
- A focus on the obsession of artists attempting to reproduce bird colorations.
- A look on the individual color variants among birds.
- The artist’s and scientist’s eye compared.
Overview of the exhibition
This exhibition reconstructs how Japanese artists gazed at birds, by showing drawings and the corresponding bird specimens side by side.
The birds drawn in Japanese art have a wide variety of colors, and artists have tried to represent them by making full use of their skills. Kawabe Kakyo’s Sketches of Birds series is a handbook for Japanese drawing called funpon, serving so to speak as a reference specimen drawn on paper. Here we can see how he struggled to reproduce the coloration of birds. In some cases, he attached real feathers on the paper to perfect his reference work.
In this exhibition, we also present the Sketches of Birds drawn by an artist who named himself Yūchikusai, to show how he expressed the color patterns of wild birds and how he appreciated individual color variants he called fukawari.
Key Information
［Title］ Special Exhibition “Aves Japonicae 5 – A Labyrinth of Colors ”
［Dates］ August 10, 2019 – October 27, 2019
［Opening Hours］ 11:00-18:00 (Open until 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays) *Opening hours may change.
［Closed on］ Mondays (or the following Tuesday if Monday is a National Holiday). May close irregularly.
［Venue］ Intermediatheque 3F [STUDIOLO]
［Organizer］ The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT)
［Address］ KITTE 2-3F, 2-7-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN
［Admission］ Free of charge
［Access］ JR lines and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line Tokyo Station (Marunouchi South Exit).
Nijubashimae Station (Exit 4) on the Chiyoda Line (about 2 minutes on foot).
Contact:
+81 3 5777 8600 (Hello Dial)