Yoshida Tetsuro: Bridging Modernism and Tradition
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2019.11.1[fri]-2020.2.11[tue] |
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“Yoshida Tetsuro: Bridging Modernism and Tradition” was end.
Known as the “Ministry of Communications architect” for designing great works of modern Japanese architecture such as the Tokyo Central Post Office (1931) and the Osaka Central Post Office (1939), Tetsuro Yoshida (1894–1956) was active from the 1920s through the early 1950s, a period that questioned, not only in Japan but around the world, how to represent the modern spatially and architecturally. What was important was to neither imitate the modernism that originated in Europe nor mix it with native Japanese tradition but instead to build a bridge between modernism and tradition. Such a bridge would establish modernism in Japan while at the same time giving new life to tradition.
For this exhibition, we have tried to illuminate the conflict between modernism and tradition so clearly evident in Yoshida’s residential works as well as his unique thinking and techniques in seeking to bridge the two. In addition, in order to trace the development of his thinking and techniques not so much as a member of the Ministry of Communication’s Building and Repairs Section than as an individual architect, we have looked at competition entries and monuments as well as his residential and Ministry of Communications works, while shedding light on his publications such as Das japanische Wohnhaus [The Japanese Residence] (1935), published in German, and his relationships with foreign architects such as Bruno Taut.
Venue
National Archives of Modern Architecture, Agency for Cultural Affairs 4‐6‐15 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Entry
There are two ways to enter the National Archives of Modern Architecture.
To view only the exhibition (possible only on weekdays):
Please enter via the main gate of the Yushima
Local Common Government Offices (Admission: Free).
To view both the exhibition and Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Gardens:
Please enter via the Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Gardens
(Admission: 400 yen).
GALLERY TALKS
GALLERY TALKS 1Modernism and Tradition as Seen in the Houses of Yoshida Tetsuro
9 November 2019 (Sat.), 13:30～15:30
OHKAWA Mitsuo (former professor, Nihon University)
YAMAZAKI Toru (Toyooka Craft)
GALLERY TALKS 2
The Architecture of Yoshida Tetsuro and its Modernity
30 November 2019 (Sat.), 13:30～15:30
TSUKAMOTO Yoshiharu (professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School)
TOYOKAWA Saikaku (associate professor, Chiba University Graduate School)
TADOKORO Shinnosuke (professor, Nihon University)
GALLERY TALKS 3
The Preservation and Renewal of Yoshida’s Architecture
21 December 2019 (Sat.), 13:30～15:30
YOKOTA Masayuki (NTT Facilities)
KANNON Katsuhira (Research Studio for Postal Architecture)
ADDITIONAL GALLERY TALK 4
A new gallery talk has been added to the program for the Yoshida Tetsuro: Bridging Modernism and Tradition exhibition, which opened on Friday, 1 November. Manuscript materials will be arriving in Japan from Germany, where Yoshida Tetsuro’s German-language trilogy of Das japanische Wohnhaus [The Japanese House, 1935], Japanische Architektur [Japanese Architecture, 1952], and Der japanische Garten [The Japanese Garden, 1957] was published. We are pleased to be able to hold an additional gallery talk with Ernst Wasmuth of Wasmuth & Zohlen Verlag UG, the publisher of these books, and Manfred Speidel, a noted scholar of Bruno Taut, and look forward to having many of you there.
Overview
Professor Manfred SPEIDEL
Mr. Ernst WASMUTH
25 January 2020 (Sat.), 13:30?15:30
Language: TBD
Presenters and time are subject to change.
Please see our website for additional event details:
https://nama.bunka.go.jp
Location: The lobby of the National Archives of Modern Architecture