It is a delightful experience to visit museums overseas to admire popular paintings from their collections. However, this may not be the case with the works of Vermeer.
Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-75) represents the Dutch Golden Age and has been dubbed the "Master of Light" due to his masterful use of light when depicting people and objects indoors. Only about three dozen paintings are known to be his work (although some researchers have different opinions), and most of them are normally housed in Europe and the United States. It would be so disappointing if you were to visit any of these museums only to find their Vermeers were away.
"Making the Difference: Vermeer and Dutch Art," an exhibition that runs until Feb. 3 at The Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo, is an opportunity to view nine of his works, which are on loan from seven museums across five countries. This is the largest showing of Vermeers ever in Japan. All of them are featured in the "Vermeer Room" in the last chapter of this show.
The paintings on show for the entire exhibition period are "The Milkmaid," as well as "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary," "The Wine Glass," "Woman with a Lute," "Woman with a Pearl Necklace," "A Lady Writing" and "Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid."
"Girl with the Red Hat" will be on display until Dec. 20, while "The Procuress" will be added on Jan. 9.
Three of the nine paintings -- "The Procuress," "The Wine Glass" and "Girl with the Red Hat" -- are to be seen in Japan for the first time.
The selection includes masterpieces from across the painter's entire career, writes Dr. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., an expert on Vermeer and general supervisor of this exhibition, in the exhibition catalog.
Vermeer's global popularity started when the exhibition "Johannes Vermeer" was held in Washington and The Hague in 1995-96. In Japan, a Vermeer boom was ignited in 2000 with an exhibition held in Osaka.
Vermeer specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life, excluding a few early paintings with mythical or religious themes, such as "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" (ca 1654-55).
His favorite themes were the quiet daily lives of citizens. He effectively depicts the moment when someone is concentrating on doing something, such as writing a letter or playing music, without being aware of the gaze of other people.
"The Milkmaid" (ca 1658-60) is one of the best known Vermeers. A young, sturdy woman slowly pours milk from a pitcher into a cooking pot in a plain room, with daylight coming in from a window on the left.
"This work is so delicate and realistic," says Nobuyuki Senzoku, a professor emeritus of Seijo University and a supervisor of the exhibition. "This is just a scene from a daily routine, but it is so beautiful, even sublime. Her way of working never fails to draw viewers' attention."
A close look may reveal the exquisite texture of the objects, such as various types of bread placed on the table and the basket on the wall.
"The Procuress" (1656) is a creation from when the painter was shifting from religious paintings to genre paintings. It is known that Vermeer made many major changes to the painting while going through a process of trial and error. The young woman in a yellow jacket receives a coin from a man who places his left hand on her breast. The woman in black at his back oversees this critical moment, serving in the eponymous role. Researchers believe the fourth person on the far left is Vermeer himself.
The exhibition also features about 40 pieces by painters of Vermeer's time, such as Pieter de Hooch and Jan Steen.
Among them, Senzoku recommends "Man Writing a Letter" and "Woman Reading a Letter" (both ca 1664-66) by Gabriel Metsu. They are assumed to be a pair and were made at the height of the painter's career. Despite their peaceful atmosphere, these paintings have many allegories and symbols warning about the dangers of love.
Vermeer's "A Lady Writing" (ca 1665) and "Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid" (ca 1670-71) have the motif of a letter, too. "This indicates that education levels and literacy rates in the Netherlands of his time were very high," Senzoku says.
Although Vermeer was a perfectionist painter like Cezanne, there are very few historical records of him, Senzoku says. "He probably wasn't an attention seeker. But I wish he would have said a little more about himself. Due to the lack of materials, researchers have been having a lot of disputes for many years about, for example, whom he painted and for what purpose," he says. There are a number of mysteries, too, such as why he did not paint children although he himself had many and children are traditionally a favored theme of genre painters.
"Making the Difference: Vermeer and Dutch Art" runs until Feb. 3 at The Ueno Royal Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Closed Dec. 13. As a general rule, admission is with a ticket with the date and time designated in advance. Visit www.vermeer.jp for more details.
The exhibition will go on tour to the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts in Tennoji Ward, Osaka, from Feb. 16 to May 12 next year. Some works to be displayed in the Osaka exhibition may be different from those in the Tokyo show.
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