DIC's art books for Kulturbanausen

  The Japanese chemical company DIC Corporation, formerly Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, is the owner of an art museum, Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art.

The founding family was very interested in art and bought many drawings and sculptures. To make sure that other people can also enjoy these works they founded a museum, the Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art. 

If you have the opportunity to visit the Tokyo area, try to find time to visit this museum. It is located about half an hour away from Tokyo but it can be easily accessed by train and bus (see the homepage for details). 

In the same town is also the National Museum of Japanese History, visit this one too if you go to the Kawamura museum.

The founding family did more for spreading art. As they were also the CEO of the company, they published art books for the 60th, 70th, 80th and 90th anniversary of the company and gave each employee such a book.

From left to the right:

1) Art of Contemporary Japan for the 90th anniversary 1998

近代日本の美術

2) Japanese Art of the Heian Period for the 80th anniversary 1988

平安の芸術

3) Japanese Art from Kamakura Period to Muromachi Period for the 70th anniversary 1978

鎌倉室町の芸術

4) Japanese Art of the Momoyama and Edo Period for the 60th anniversary 1968

桃山江戸の芸術

 

These are extraordinarily well-made books, written mostly in Japanese but parts are also in English. Reproductions of the artworks are glued-in photos.

Here are some example pages:

I was told that the production of each book cost between 15000-20000 Yen. A lot of money, isn't it?

What happened to these books? One should think that they are in the libraries of appreciating people. But no, most ended in the recycle bin as many people were simply not interested in art books.

A number of them can still be found on Mercari or Yahoo Auctions for prices between 500 and 2000 Yen. But you can also find them at used-book stores or at Abebooks - but there you have to pay 100-500 USD.

Kulturbanause = Culturally ignorant person