Sep.6 (Fri), 2002 – Jun.3 (Tue), 2003

The Pola Collection, has approximately 9,500 works, focusing on paintings by impressionists, artists of the Ecole de Paris, and twentieth century artists, and including modern European paintings, Yoga (western-style paintings by modern Japanese artists), Nihon-ga (Japanese-style paintings), Oriental antique ceramics, modern ceramics, glass works, prints, sculptures and cosmetics utensils. This exhibition, which was the museum’s first special exhibition, seized on the occasion of the museum’s opening to introduce the Pola Collection through 400 works selected for their ability to represent the collection as a whole and illustrate the themes of “light” cutting a path into the 21st century, and “women,” from whom new pursuits and contributions are anticipated.

The portion of the exhibition devoted to modern European paintings focused on works by impressionists, such as Claude Monet, who excelled in creating translucent textures, and Pierre Auguste Renoir, famous for his pursuit of the beauty of women, as it follows several paths from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. Meanwhile, a separate portion of the exhibit devoted its attention to Yoga (western-style paintings by modern Japanese artists) and will traced the transition beginning with western-style paintings at the beginning of Meiji Era (1868), carried through to works by Seiki Kuroda and other pleinairist, and Sotaro Yasui, and Ryuzaburo Umehara. The section on Nihon-ga (Japanese-style paintings) focused on three artists, Yasushi Sugiyama, Tatsuo Takayama, and Ikuo Hirayama.

Also featured were works including Oriental antique ceramics, cosmetics utensils that have helped to bring out the beauty in women, and art nouveau glass works that have added vivid light to daily life.