AOMORI MUSEUM OF ART
Artwork © Yoshitomo Nara
Photo © Daici Ano
The Aomori Museum of Art opened on July 13, 2006. Since that time, it has viewed Aomori Prefecture’s rich artistic culture and the power of the Jomon artefacts symbolized by the adjoining Sannai-Maruyama Ruins as wellsprings of artistic creativity, and has conveyed the beauty of Aomori’s abundant diversity of arts.
The innovative museum building was designed by Jun Aoki, who took inspiration from the Sannai-Maruyama Archaeological Site. The matching museum symbol and signs were designed by Atsuki Kikuchi. The uniforms worn by museum staff were designed by fashion brand minä perhonen. The museum’s collection includes works by highly individual local creators, including Shiko MUNAKATA, one of Aomori Prefecture’s most well-known artists; Yoshitomo NARA, a world-renowned contemporary artist; and sculptor and special effects director Tohl NARITA, known for his design of Ultraman and various fictional giant monsters. The museum also holds night at the museum events and music, dance, theater, and other performing arts activities leveraging such unique spaces as our Aleko Hall, in which are displayed backdrops created by Marc Chagall for the ballet Aleko.
Photo ©Yuki Morishima (D-CORD)
Artwork ©Yoshitomo Nara
Main works
Aomori-ken (Aomori Dog)
A colossal dog sculpture, 8.5 meters high and 6.7 meters wide, is established in an outdoor space on the museum's west side. The work, Aomori-ken (Aomori Dog) was created by NARA Yoshitomo, an internationally active artist from Hirosaki. Nara paintings of figures with glaring eyes resonate with people everywhere who feel overwhelmed by the complexity of temporary living. Aomori Museum of Art began collecting Nara works in 1998 and currently possesses more than 170. Aomori-ken, which looms over viewers like a Great Buddha, its expression changing with the seasons, is affectionately regarded by visitors as the museum's symbol.
Artwork © Yoshitomo Nara
Photo © Daici Ano
Aleko Hall
Positioned at the museum's center is a large, four-floor atrium, 19m high and 21m wide and deep. Displayed in the atrium, which is named Aleko Hall, are backdrops created by the representative 20th-century artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985) for the ballet Aleko. The backdrops were commissioned of him by the Ballet Theater (currently American Ballet Theater) in the United States, where Chagall, who was born to a Russian (now Belarusian) Jewish family, obtained refuge from persecution by Nazi Germany during World War Two. The works are stage art masterpieces in which Chagall, the magician of color, gives full play to his brilliant palette. Aleko Hall is also used for presenting concerts, dramas, and dance performances.
MUNAKATA Shiko
Print artist MUNAKATA Shiko (1903-1975) was born and raised in Aomori. Munakata called prints han-ga rather than han-ga (han-ga refers to the process of printing whereas ita refers to the woodblock itself) and produced a great many excellent woodblock print works. Aomori Museum of Art features works by Munakata in its Munakata Shiko gallery, rotating the exhibits four times per year. A Flower Arrow, a work Munakata created to commemorate the completion of Aomori Prefectura Office, was inspired by the Ainu ritual of iomante (or kuma-okuri: "bear-send off") when flower arrows are shot from horseback. Four nude women represent the gods ruling the four directions. The god of the east strikes a drum and the god of the west plays a flute, while those of the south and north hold flower arrows in hand. According to Munakata, the picture embodies his wish for the growth and development of his homeland. Until now, Japanese culture has been sent north from the south, but "This arrow is being sent back south from the north, he said. This time, Aomori will send the power of life to the south."
*Please note that this work may not always be on display.
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ABE Gosei (1910-1972)
≪Countryside≫1939
≪Self-portrait≫1960
≪Maria with Crowd of Voiceless People（A）≫1966 -
KUDO Tetsumi (1935-1990)
《Philosophy of Impotence》1960-61
《Portrait of Artist in the Crisis》1978
《Suivivant de spermatozoïdes de Jomon》1986 -
NARA Yoshitomo（1959-）
≪Make the Road, Follow the Road≫1990
≪Mumps≫1996
≪Aomori Hutte 1≫2016 -
NARITA Tohl（1929-2002）
《Final drawing B for Ultraseven》1967
《Ailien Chibull》1967
《Final drawing for Kanegon》1965 -
KUDO Kojin(1915-2011)
《Hasu(Lotuses)》1950
《Yume to Kakusei(Dreaming and Awakening)》1971
《Kyusoku - Fuyu(Rest - winter)》1975 -
SEKINO Jun-ichiro(1914-1988)
《Construction Site of Tsutsumi River》1938
《Roofs in Florence》1959
《Bingata (Traditional dyeing of Ryukyu)》1975 -
MUNAKATA Shiko（1903-1975）
≪At the Foot of the Mt.Hakkoda≫1924
≪The Story of Plover≫1938
≪Flower Arrow≫1961
