Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
Encyclopedia
Mount Carmel
Mount Carmel ; , Kármēlos; , Kurmul or جبل مار إلياس Jabal Mar Elyas 'Mount Saint Elias') is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations on Mt. Carmel...
is dedicated exclusively to the preservation and exhibition of Japanese art
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
works, and is the only one of its kind in the Middle East. The Museum is a municipal foundation, set up in 1959, on the initiative of Felix Tikotin
Felix Tikotin
Felix Tikotin was an architect, art collector, and founder of the first Museum of Japanese Art in the Middle East.Born in Glogau, Germany, to a Jewish family, his ancestors had returned with Napoleon from Russia from a town called Tikocyn. Tikotin grew up in Dresden and became involved with the...
of The Netherlands, and Abba Khoushy (1898–1969), then mayor of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
. The Museum aims to allow Israelis to learn and become acquainted with Japanese culture; to promote mutual understanding between Israel and Japan, and between East and West; and to encourage research into the arts and culture of Japan.
History
Felix Tikotin, an architect by profession, was an internationally renowned collector and dealer in Japanese works of art. For more than forty years he amassed his valuable and rare collection and organized exhibitions of Japanese art in many museums. During the Second World War, because he was Jewish, Felix Tikotin fled from the Nazis. He hid his collection in Holland to prevent it from falling into their hands. After the war, Tikotin decided that his unique collection should be taken to Israel, and came here in 1956 in order to donate it to one of Israel's museums. During a visit to Haifa he met Mayor Abba Khoushy, and decided that the collection should remain in Haifa, and that he would build a pavilion specifically for exhibiting it here.Tikotin travelled to Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, France, England and Japan to organize support for his idea. He engaged the help of museum directors such as Nagatake Asano (1895–1965); academics such as Professor Chisaburoh Yamada (1908–1984) of the Tokyo University of Art, who was also chosen to be the first Director of the Japanese Museum in Haifa; spiritual leaders such as Victor M. A. Suzuki, son of the famous Zen philosopher, and others.During the years 1966-1992 the museum was directed by Eli Lancman
Eli Lancman
Eli Lancman is a Jewish-Israeli historian of Japanese and East Asian art. Developer and director of the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa from 1966 to 1992, and one of the founders of the Israel-Japan Friendship Society....
and it gained worldwide reputation.
At a meeting of the Haifa Municipality on May 18, 1958, it was decided to acquire the "Kisch House" and its surrounding land. The house was built by Brigadier Frederick Kisch
Frederick Kisch
Frederick Kisch was a British Army officer and Zionist leader.-Biography:Frederick Kisch was born in India in 1888, and served in the British Army Royal Engineers...
, Chairman of the Zionist Workers' Committee in Israel and Head of the State Department from 1923 to 1931. He lived in the house from 1934 to 1939. Kisch, who commanded the Engineering Brigade of the British Eighth Army, fell in battle during the North African Campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
in April 1943. The Kisch House is still the home of the offices of the Museum, the library, the creativity workshops, and a Japanese room. The library - the largest of its kind in Israel - comprises some 3,000 books and publications relating to Japanese art and culture.
In February 1959 plans were approved for a Japanese pavilion, and construction began on the exhibition hall in accordance with the ideas and plans of Felix Tikotin, supervised by the architect M. Lev. The exhibition hall was designed in the Japanese spirit. It is spacious, and has sliding doors of paper leading to the garden, conveying a Japanese atmosphere. On May 25, 1960, the Japanese Museum was opened to the public for the first time, with an exhibition of works from the donor's collection. In accordance with Tikotin's wishes, a Board of Trustees of the Museum was set up, headed today by Ilana Drukker-Tikotin, his daughter.
Collections
The Museum's collection comprises some 7,000 items of art and crafts - paintings, prints, drawings, painted screens, textiles, antique illustrated texts, ceramics, miniature carvings (netsukeNetsuke
Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function...
), lacquer and metal work, antique swords and functional art works, mainly from the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as a collection of modern Japanese art. The collection has increased over time, and other private collections have been donated.
Exhibitions cover different aspects of Japanese culture, displaying traditional and modern art, and emphasizing the aesthetic values unique to Japanese art. According to Japanese custom, a room is sparsely furnished with items selected for specific events and for the season. Hence the exhibitions are changed approximately every three months, and subject, style and period are common to all of them. Exhibitions are accompanied by illustrated catalogues and explanatory texts.
In 1982 the Japanese philannthropist Ryoichi Sasakawa donated the sum of one and half million dolars for the construction of a large new wing to the museum, it was opened in 1995.It was designed by the Japanese architect Junzo Yoshimura
Junzo Yoshimura
was a Japanese architect.- Early career:In December 1928, whilst a student at Tokyo's Fine Arts College, Yoshimura began part-time work at Antonin Raymond's office, becoming full time after he graduated in 1931...
, together with Israeli architect Al Mansfeld of Haifa, and funded by the Eva Tikotin-Licht Foundation. Yoshimura, one of the renowned architects of Japan, designed the National Museum at Nara in Japan and the Japanese House in New York. Mansfeld is known as the architect of the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
in Jerusalem. The new wing has two floors and a lower parking area, and extends over 1,800 square metres. The exhibition hall covers 350 sq.m. and is connected to the original hall (300 sq.m.) in the old building. Adjacent to the large hall is a smaller hall of 120 sq.m. On the second floor the Raphael Angel acoustic Auditorium was constructed in 2000, with two hundred seats. A special staircase was connected to lead to the auditorium. The old building is a single story, and its integration with the new building created a single harmonious unit, embodying the Japanese spirit. The addition of these construction elements was planned by the firm Mansfeld Kehat Architects.
Educational activities
Tikotin's dream was that the Japanese Museum should be a centre for studying Japanese arts and culture and for broadening the Israelis' knowledge about Japan. In the educational branch of the Museum, workshops based on the exhibitions are conducted for schoolchildren and those of kindergarten age, for teachers, and for other groups. Courses are given about the Japanese language, calligraphy and ink drawing, ikebanaIkebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
, cooking, and special activities are held for children. There are also Japanese rooms, for learning about how people live in Japan, their clothing, food, and homes.
The Museum presents a variety of events concerning the arts and culture of Japan. These include lectures, films, the tea ceremony, festivals and special celebrations, many of which are held in the Raphael Angel Auditorium. As a result of its activities, the Museum has become a centre for promoting and understanding the unique Japanese culture, and for establishing closer ties between two nations.
Awards and recognition
In 2000, the museum received the prestigious Japan FoundationJapan Foundation
The was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry of Japan on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent...
Special Award, which is conferred annually on institutions that make significant contributions to cultural exchanges with Japan. In 2003, the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture's
Ministry of Education (Israel)
The Israeli Ministry of Education is the branch of government charged with overseeing public education institutions in Israel. The political head of the department is the Minster of Education, currently Gideon Sa'ar....
committee for evaluating the quality of exhibitions and collections ranked the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art second only to the Israel Museum in order of merit.