The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 107 rue de Rivoli, highlights the wealth of Japan’s contribution to art and design with this exhibition which runs until March 3, 2019.

Part of the program ‘Japonismes 2018 : les âmes en résonance’, it showcases the diversity of Japanese culture in Paris and other locations, part of an 8-month period celebrating 160 years of diplomatic relations between the governments of Japan and of France.

Since its foundation in 1864, the museum has been instrumental in the preservation and presentation of Japanese art in France. 

When the Japanese opened up to the West in 1868 at the beginning of the Meiji Period, a sweeping dialogue between East and West began : in 1869, the museum organized the first major exhibition of Far Eastern art in France focusing on Japan. Since then the museum has acquired, preserved and displayed remarkable examples of Japanese decorative arts up until our day.

Nearly 1,500 works of art spanning a wide variety of artistic media, including art and design, fashion, graphic arts and photographic are on show. Historic pieces are displayed alongside Westernized Japanese creations. Many pieces of art are on loan by private and public cultural institutions from Japan Artists include Hokusai, Emile Gallé, René Lalique, Kuramata Shiro, Charlotte Perriand and Tanaka Ikko. Furthermore, the works of seven French participants of the “Wonder Lab” exhibition held at the Tokyo National Museum in 2017 are also exhibited as proof of the artistic exchange which exists until our day.

Sou Fujimoto, acclaimed Japanese minimalist architect, well known for his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 in London and the Musashino Art University Museum and Library in Tokyo, is responsible for the exhibition design, which extends over 2,200 m2 on three floors of the Rohan Wing. Fujimoto’s design focuses on five themes : Agents of Discovery, Nature, Time, Movement and Innovation.

In fact, the entire show merits several visits to fully understand the evolution of artistic exchange, mutual inspiration and development of craftmanship, spanning more than a century of historical events between the two nations.