National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo


The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, also known as MOMAT, is the foremost museum collecting and exhibiting modern Japanese art. The museum, in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, is known for its collection of 20th-century art and includes Western-style and Nihonga artists. It has a branch, the National Crafts Museum, in the city of Kanazawa.
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History

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, was the first national museum of art in Japan and dates back to 1952, when it was established as an institution governed by the Ministry of Education. The architect of the building was Kunio Maekawa. On two later occasions, neighbouring premises were purchased and the museum was enlarged. The most recent redesign of MOMAT was conceived by Yoshirō Taniguchi.

Collections

The collection contains many notable Japanese artists since the Meiji period, and a few contemporary Western prints.
In the early years of the 20th century, Matsukata Kojiro collected Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints which had been scattered throughout the world. The 1925 exhibition of the woodblock prints Matsukata collected abroad is thought to have been the first of its kind in Japan. Today, around 8,000 ukiyo-e prints from the Matsukata collection are housed in the MOMAT.

National Film Center

Until April 2018, the National Museum of Modern Art housed the National Film Center, which was Japan's only public institution devoted to cinema. In April 2018, the NFC became independent of the art museum and was officially elevated to the rank of a national museum under the name the National Film Archive of Japan.

Union catalog

The "Union Catalog of the Collections of the National Art Museums, Japan" is a consolidated catalog of material held by this museum and the other three Japanese national art museums—the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, and the National Museum of Western Art. The online version of the union catalog is under construction, with only selected works available at this time.