The Challenge of Glass: Discovering the Material

After emerging in the mid-20th century, contemporary glass art flourished internationally in the 1980s and ’90s. This exhibition will feature 16 glass artworks from the Suntory Museum of Art, which has one of Japan’s foremost glass art collections, and 8 glass artworks from Toyama City’s collection. Through them, the exhibition will show the creative vitality that characterized glass art in the eighties and nineties.

The Suntory Museum of Art’s contemporary glass collection consists of works submitted to the “Suntory Prize Exhibition” held a total 8 times from 1988 to 1998. Dedicated to the principle, “Art in Life,” since its founding, the Suntory Museum of Art launched this prize exhibition in a climate of rapid societal change in the late 20th century, seeking pathways to a new era transcending boundaries between art and craft. Numerous glass artists were featured in the exhibition, which focused on plastic arts employing ceramics, metal, fiber, glass, and other materials traditionally used in craft fields.

Displaying highly distinctive styles, the artists actively explored glass’s qualities—its transparency, surface effects, delicacy, and volume as an object—in three dimensions. Their works, we can say, are testimony to their tireless passion for investigating their material, seeking expressive possibilities.

We invite you to enjoy richly compelling works by glass artists active in the 1980s and ’90s.

 

• Artists

IEZUMI Toshio, IKUTA Niyoko, IWATA Ruri, OHGITA Katsuya, Vladimír KLEIN, SHIBUYA Ryoji, Yan ZORITCHAK, TAKAHASHI Yoshihiko, NAKAO Yuko, HASHIMOTO Yuji, FUKUNISHI Takeshi, Richard MEITNER, MURO Shinichi, YOKOYAMA Naoto, Mária LUGOSSY

(Total 15 artists, alphabetical order in Japanese)

 

Click here to download the List of works.

 

*Reproduction of photos are prohibited.

• Special Lecture

Date & time: Sun. 25 April, 2021 14:00-

Venue: Toyama Glass Art Museum 2F Lobby

Lecturer: ISHIDA Yoshiya (Chief Curator, Suntory Museum of Art)

*Free admission / No reservation. *This lecture is all in Japanese.

 

• Workshop

Date & time: Sat. 22 May and 29 May 2021, each of 13:30 – 16:30

Lecturer: SHIBUYA Ryoji (Director, Toyama Glass Art Museum)

Cosponsored: General Incorporated Foundation Toyama City Glass Art Center

*The details will be provided at museum website. *This workshop is all in Japanese.

 

• Curator’s Talk

The curator of this exhibition will give a simple explanation of this show.

Dates & time: Sun. 11 April, 2 May, 16 May, 13 June, each of 14:00-

Venue: Toyama Glass Art Museum 2F Conference Room 1&2   *6F Lecture Room on 11 April

Number of seats: approx. 17 persons

*Free admission / No reservation / Exhibition ticket requires *These talk events are all in Japanese.

 

• Evening Talk

The curator of this exhibition will give a simple explanation of this show on that evening.

Dates & time: Fri. 4 June 18:00-

Venue: Toyama Glass Art Museum 2F Conference Room 1&2

Number of seats: approx. 17 persons

*Free admission / No reservation / Exhibition ticket requires *This talk event is all in Japanese.

 

*Exhibition-related programs are subject to change or cancellation.

Please refer to the museum website for the latest information.

Contact

Toyama Glass Art Museum
bijutsukan-01@city.toyama.lg.jp