Exhibition Outlines

No.30 Zoological Art Garden -Animals Depicted and Carved- (2003/3/29 - 2003/6/15)

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Zoological Art Garden

Relations between humans and animals have been close since ancient times, and animals have been depicted in many works of art in various forms. Animals are fondly treated as pets or used at work in daily life, whereas there are times when they were respected as a symbol of the power of severe nature, or as deities with supernatural powers. There were times when owning a certain animal was a symbol of authority. Animals have been an indispensable existence when one talks about literature and art with themes such as daily life, history and faith. Then, in the modern times when attitudes to observe nature rationalistically were born, the incentive occurred to grasp animals objectively. These versatile ideas towards animals are why such a variety of expressions depicting animals were created within history.

This exhibition attempts to introduce these relationships between humans and animals from this viewpoint, mainly focusing on the Japanese art among our collection.