Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is in Tokyo's Shirokanedai district and is housed in an elegant art deco building incorporating many Japanese elements.
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum 東京都庭園美術館
The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is housed in an elegant art deco masterpiece of a building in Shirokanedai surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds, variegated in style, with a lawn plaza, a Japanese- and a Western-style garden, and featuring a huge array of flora.
© Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
History
The building dates from 1933 and was built as the residence of Prince Asaka, husband to Princess Nobuko, a daughter of the Emperor Meiji.
Prince Asaka studied in Paris in the 1910's, and was joined by Princess Nobuko in 1920 when she went there for two years to nurse him back to health after a serious car accident. The couple were profoundly influenced by the Art Deco movement that had just begun in Europe, and on their return to Japan, built a residence in the sparely elegant, geometical Art Deco style.
Features
The interior was designed principally by the Frenchmen, Henri Rapin (1873-1939) and Ivan-Leon Branchot (1868-1947), so many of the materials that went into its construction, and much of the interior decoration, are French imports. The glass relief of the main entrance door and the chandeliers in the Grand Guest Room and Great Dining Hall are by the celebrated glassware and jewelry artist, Rene Lalique (1860-1945).
The house became the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum in 1983. Renovations in 2014 saw the addition of an annex. It has two above-ground floors and a basement floor. The grounds house a traditional Japanese tea room in a Japanese-style garden, a modern restaurant, a shop, and half a dozen sculptures, the most dramatic being Kan Yasuda's oblong, white marble Kaze ("Wind"). Further renovations in 2017 saw the addition of an elevator for enhanced accessibility. Garden-only admission is possible for 100 yen.
Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Exhibitions
The Museum has periodic art exhibitions. What's on now at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Hours and Admission
Hours: 10 am - 6 pm (last admission at 5.30 pm). Closed 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month (but open if that Wednesday falls on a national holiday, and closed the next day, Thursday), and New Year.
Garden-only admission: 100 yen for adults. Limited parking available for 1,000 yen/3 hours. Exhibition admission: changes according to exhibition.
Access
The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum is:
-a 7-minute walk from the East Exit of Meguro Station on the JR Yamanote Line, in the Atre 1 building. (Turn left out of the exit.)
-a 6-minute walk from Exit 1 of Shirokanedai Station on the Toei Mita Line and the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line. (Turn left out of the exit.)
5-21-9 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0071
Tel. 03-3443-0201
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum website (www.teien-art-museum.ne.jp)
Pond and stone lanterns in the garden of Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
Nearby
The Institute for Nature Study is on the same grounds as the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The Matsuoka Museum of Art is just outside the grounds, just to the north-east, about the same distance from Exit 1 of Shirokanedai Station as the museum is.
© Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum Garden & Teahouse
© Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum
