Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts

Brief information

The building of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art took almost ten years to construct: work began in 1927, was halted several times, and was completed only in 1936. That is why not only the collection of Japanese and East Asian art matters here, but also the museum’s own shell. It was assembled as a sturdy modern structure of its time: a steel frame, reinforcing steel and concrete, a basement, three above-ground levels with a ground floor, and a penthouse.

The sharpest turn in the building’s biography came in 1942, when the army occupied the museum and turned it into the headquarters of the Third Division. During the occupation from 1945 to 1947, museum work stopped. This fact changes the way one sees the building: it is perceived not only as a place for art, but also as a structure that had already changed its function under the pressure of history.

What to notice first

It makes sense to look at the museum as a building whose above-ground and underground parts speak about different stages. The original volume is described as a basement, three upper floors, and a penthouse; this vertical scheme shows how the museum of the 1930s was conceived. Later, in 1992, four underground exhibition halls were added so that several exhibitions could be held at the same time. Inside, the collection is best understood through different materials and formats: Buddhist art, Chinese paintings and writings, Japanese painting from the Edo and Meiji periods, metalwork, lacquer, and ceramics. Among the specific points of reference, the Seated Buddha from 466 stands out: alongside objects like this, the museum reads not as a single national showcase, but as a collection of different East Asian artistic traditions.