Artizon Museum

In short

An art museum located in Kyobashi, Tokyo, originally opened in 1952 as the Bridgestone Museum of Art. Following a complete reconstruction and a name change, it reopened in January 2020. The collection consists of approximately 3,000 works ranging from ancient to contemporary art, centered on Impressionism and modern Japanese Western-style paintings.

• ​Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Western-Style Painting​​: Houses Aoki Shigeru's masterpiece "A Gift of the Sea" (Umi no Sachi), an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
• ​Pillar-Free Exhibition Rooms​​: The galleries span three floors, from the 4th to the 6th floor, and not a single pillar exists in any of the exhibition rooms.
• ​Atrium Stone Pillar​​: An open atrium 16.5 meters high extends from the 3rd to the 5th floor, where a stone pillar with a diameter of 1.8 meters stands as the museum's symbol.

History and Highlights

The predecessor of the ​Artizon Museum​ was the Bridgestone Museum of Art. Its history began in 1952 when Ishibashi Shojiro, the founder of Bridgestone, opened a museum on the 2nd floor of the newly constructed Bridgestone Building in Kyobashi to present his personal collection to the public. In 1956, the Ishibashi Foundation was established to foster the museum as a permanent endeavor.

To rebuild the structure, the museum entered a lengthy closure in May 2015 and reopened as the Artizon Museum at the same Kyobashi location on January 18, 2020. The name "ARTIZON" is a coined word combining "ART" and "HORIZON."

The Ishibashi Foundation's collection comprises about 3,000 works, spanning ancient art, Eastern art, Western modern and contemporary art, Japanese modern and contemporary art, design, and photographic portraits of artists. A story explains how this collecting began: Sakamoto Hanjiro, who had been Ishibashi Shojiro's substitute drawing teacher in elementary school, lamented that works by Aoki Shigeru—a painter from their hometown of Kurume—might end up scattered, and urged Ishibashi to collect them and build a museum. Over a little more than ten years, Shojiro assembled Aoki's key works, including "A Gift of the Sea."

Viewing and Experience Points

• ​Modern Art Collection​​: The museum houses celebrated examples of modern Japanese Western-style painting, such as Aoki Shigeru's masterpieces "A Gift of the Sea" and "Paradise Under the Sea" (Wadatsumi no Iroko no Miya), both Important Cultural Properties, as well as Fujishima Takeji's "Black Fan." "Black Fan" was entrusted to Ishibashi Shojiro by Fujishima toward the end of his life, while ill in bed, as one of the paintings he cherished to the very end. The collection also includes works by French Impressionists such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
• ​Pillar-Free Exhibition Rooms​​: The galleries occupy three floors, from the 4th to the 6th floor, providing about twice the floor area of the previous museum. None of the exhibition rooms have any pillars, and with ceiling heights of 4.2 meters, large-scale works can also be displayed.
• ​Building Design​​: The 1st and 2nd floors are enclosed in 8-meter-high glass, allowing views inside from the street. From the 3rd to the 5th floor, there is a 16.5-meter-high atrium where a stone pillar with a diameter of 1.8 meters rises like a massive tree piercing the building. In the lobby at the entrance of the 6th-floor exhibition room, sofas designed by Kuramata Shiro are placed, and anyone may sit on them.

Tips for Exploring

The museum is situated on the lower floors of Museum Tower Kyobashi, a 23-story skyscraper. The entrance faces the main thoroughfare, Chuo-dori Avenue. It is a 5-minute walk from the Yaesu Central Exit of JR Tokyo Station, Kyobashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, and Nihonbashi Station. Looking at the atrium's stone pillar through the 1st- and 2nd-floor glass before entering from in front of the building provides a clear sense of the architecture's structure. Nihonbashi is located about 590 meters to the north.