From Wednesday, January 1 to Sunday, March 15, 2020, a special exhibition is being held that brings paintings from the Ohara Museum of Art closer to visitors.
“AM Kurashiki vol.16: Wataridori Project—Traveling from Paintings: Ohara ⇔ Okayama” is an exhibition in which two painters traveled around Okayama, searching for the landscapes depicted in paintings and creating works inspired by them.
What were the landscapes the painters saw like?
This is an exhibition you can enjoy at your leisure. It may change the way you see paintings and imagine landscapes.
Photography is normally prohibited inside the Ohara Museum of Art. Special permission to take photographs was granted for this exhibition.
The information provided was current when this article was published in January 2020. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Exhibition Overview
Ohara Museum of Art runs a program called “AM Kurashiki (Artist Meets Kurashiki).”
AM Kurashiki is a program in which artists create works through their encounters with Kurashiki and present them to the public.
For its 16th edition, works by the Wataridori Project are on display.
What Is the Wataridori Project?
The Wataridori Project is an art project by painters Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi.
Aso and Takeuchi have been friends since their prep-school days, and both work as painters under their own names.
Like migratory birds flying in search of warm places and food, the two travel around Japan in search of exhibition venues and subjects, presenting works created during their travels in the places they visit.
They formed the project in 2008 and have held exhibitions in around 20 locations across Japan.
In 2012, they exhibited at the VOCA exhibition, a gateway for emerging painters.
About “Wataridori Project—Traveling from Paintings: Ohara ⇔ Okayama”
For “Wataridori Project—Traveling from Paintings: Ohara ⇔ Okayama,” the artists asked people to suggest places in Okayama that evoked 13 masterpieces from the Ohara Museum of Art, then traveled to 28 locations around Okayama and created works.
The process was as follows:
- The two members of the Wataridori Project selected several works from the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection.
- They showed the works to Kurashiki residents and asked, “Where in Okayama can you see a landscape like this?”
- They traveled to the places people suggested.
- At each destination, they took photographs featuring the two of them, printed them in black and white, and made hand-painted postcards.
- They painted oil paintings based on the places they visited.
They began research for the exhibition in March 2018.
The 13 masterpieces they traveled in search of were:
- Gauguin, “The Delightful Land”
- Cezanne, “Bathers”
- Marquet, “The Port of Marseille”
- Matisse, “The Cliffs at Etretat”
- Pissarro, “Apple Picking”
- Picasso, “Bull’s Head”
- Rousseau, “View of the Outskirts of Paris: The Village of Bagneux”
- Klee, “Candelabra”
- Rothko, “Untitled (Green on Green)”
- Lee Ufan, “From Line”
- Yasui Sotaro, “Landscape of the Outer Boso Peninsula”
- Maeda Kanji, “Red Landscape”
- Kojima Torajiro, “Summer Boat”
They have also made hand-painted postcards for past exhibitions, and have created around 300 designs to date.
Choosing travel destinations based on works in the collection was a first for an exhibition at the Ohara Museum of Art.
The entire main building of the Ohara Museum of Art is used for the exhibition, with 13 sets of “original work, oil-painted travel-diary panel, and hand-painted postcard,” as well as paintings, ceramics, video works, and more on display.
Let’s Look at the Works
From Cezanne’s “Bathers” to Yubara Onsen
Let’s take a look at the work based on Cezanne’s “Bathers.”
In Cezanne’s painting, several people are bathing in a forest.
When people were asked where they could see a landscape like this, they apparently all gave the same answer: “Sunayu at Yubara Onsen.”
The two members of the Wataridori Project visited Sunayu, a mixed-gender natural outdoor bath at Yubara Onsen in Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture, and looked for a spot that felt like something out of a Cezanne painting.
They took photographs there, printed them in monochrome, colored them with oil paints, and made postcards.
Here is a photograph taken at Yubara Onsen, colored by the artists.
Until now, I had thought, “Bathers depicts a scene from a distant country long ago. Was it an everyday sight? I can’t imagine it.”
But looking at a familiar place and thinking, “Could this be a bit like Cezanne’s Bathers?” changed the way I saw the painting.
I began to imagine that the people bathing in Cezanne’s time might have gathered and relaxed just like people at Sunayu in Yubara Onsen, and perhaps said things like, “Ah, this is heaven.”
My imagination may be wide of the mark, but it’s interesting how a change in perspective can make a difference.
Looking at the oil paintings accompanied by these stories made me feel as if I were traveling alongside the artists.
Where Is Klee’s Painting?
Take a look at this yellow painting by Klee.
Where might you see a landscape like this?
One answer they received was the sunflower fields in the reclaimed land of Kasaoka City.
It’s a landscape filled with yellow.
Another person suggested Candle Taku Watanabe-tei, a candlelit restaurant.
One comment was, “I think the candlelight would have been no different in Klee’s time.”
Rousseau’s “View of the Outskirts of Paris: The Village of Bagneux” Looks Just Like Hiruzen Kogen
The place people said resembled Rousseau’s “View of the Outskirts of Paris: The Village of Bagneux” was Hiruzen Kogen in Maniwa City.
As the two members of the Wataridori Project put it, “The landscape looked just like we imagined,” and they created a postcard depicting a remarkably similar scene.
Rousseau’s paintings capture people’s hearts, even as they are described as “strange,” “so bad they’re good,” or having “odd perspective.”
Comparing the painting with the photograph like this makes it clear just how large Rousseau painted the cow and haystack.
Punting Boat Rides on Kurashiki River
Kojima Torajiro’s “Summer Boat” is Punting Boat Rides on Kurashiki River.
It depicts a scene somewhere in Europe, but it looks so much like a painting of Kurashiki River that you might think, “Could this be Kurashiki River?”
The two who rode the boat said they felt, “We didn’t realize it until we got on, but riding in it and looking at it are so different.”
What kind of painting looks like somen noodles and a limestone cave??
The work that prompted the widest range of answers was Lee Ufan’s “From Line.”
People suggested places they had visited, such as Ikurado Cave (Niimi City), tatami mats, Katsuyama noren (traditional shop curtains) (Maniwa City), Kanba Falls (Maniwa City), and the shutters of a shopping arcade.
It was also one of the paintings they named when asked in the interview, “Which work did you think was a perfect match?”
They were especially surprised by how perfectly it matched cold-dried somen from Kamogata, Asakuchi City, and Ikurado Cave.
What does a painting that looks like somen and resembles a limestone cave look like? Find out at Ohara Museum of Art.
The appeal of variety
Along with hand-colored photographs and oil paintings, you can also enjoy the newspaper-style “Wataridori News” and ceramics.
As a bonus, there was also “Top 20 Recommended Hot Springs, Selected by Two Hot Spring Lovers, in Hand-Colored Postcards.”
The warm, comforting works left me feeling all cozy.
Hand-painted postcards, colored one by one, cost 550 yen
Hand-colored postcards are sold at the exit of Ohara Museum of Art.
For 550 yen (tax included), you can buy a postcard printed with a black-and-white photograph that the artist has colored by hand, one at a time, using oil paints.
The author was surprised and said, “Isn’t that a digit off?”
The postcards I bought smelled of oil paint.
They are not sold in the museum shop. Also, hand-colored postcards can only be paid for in cash.
We interviewed Tomoko Aso and Akiko Takeuchi.
Ohara Museum of Art AM Kurashiki Vol. 16: Wataridori Project: Traveling Through Paintings, Ohara ⇔ Okayama — Information
| Name | Ohara Museum of Art AM Kurashiki Vol. 16: Wataridori Project: Traveling Through Paintings, Ohara ⇔ Okayama |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-1-15 Chuo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 086-422-0005 |
| Parking | None |
| Opening hours | January 1–March 15, 2020 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (last admission at 4:30 p.m.) |
| Closed | Closure dates during the exhibition (all Mondays) January 6, 20, 27; February 3, 17; March 2, 9 |
| Admission (tax included) | Adults: 1,300 yen University students: 800 yen High school, junior high school, and elementary school students: 500 yen *Group rates available for groups of 20 or more |
| Payment methods |
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| Reservations | Not available |
| Smoking | Non-smoking (smoking permitted only in designated areas) |
| Restrooms | Western-style toilets, Japanese-style toilets, accessible toilets |
| Childcare facilities | Nursing room, diaper-changing table, stroller rental The nursing room is in the Craft Museum Diaper-changing tables are on the second floor of the Main Building and in the Craft Museum |
| Accessibility | Ramps, accessible toilets, elevator, wheelchair rental |
| Website | AM Kurashiki Vol. 16: Wataridori Project — Traveling Through Paintings, Ohara ⇔ Okayama | Ohara Museum of Art |
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