Regional Arts Study Group

The Regional Arts Study Group was proposed in 2014 at the 28th Curatorial Study Meeting held on the subject of “A Base in Regional Japan – Towards a Reconstruction of Art History.” The new study group was officially founded and confirmed by the 63rd JCAM General Meeting.
One of the important and indeed fundamental activities of art museums is to hand on the art traditions of the regions in which they are located and to contribute to the creation of new art in the area, primarily through studying the history of art in their region, along with collecting, displaying and preserving historically important artworks.
Up until now Japan’s art museums have conducted ongoing surveys and studies as they accumulated collections of regional art. However, the majority of these works were then displayed in permanent collection galleries and discussed in articles in research publications, but did not receive widespread introduction through either national level exhibitions or catalogues.
Working from this basis, this Regional Arts Study Group aims primarily to provide a nexus for the exchange of information, encourage new surveys and studies on regional art and, through the mutual cooperation of curators at museums throughout Japan, to shift from the existing regional art viewpoint to a more inclusive study of these materials within a new form of art history.
The group holds two study meetings each fiscal year, and these meetings will be held in rotation at member museums within JCAM’s 10 regional blocks. The meetings will focus on reports on the results of regional art surveys and studies conducted throughout Japan, the exchange of other information related to regional art and discussions of the study group’s future activities.

Yamada Satoshi
December 2, 2015
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