The beginnings of the Japanese collection 140 years ago and, contemporaneously, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Austria provide the starting point and the occasion for the exhibition “MEJI. Japan around 1900” shown at the MAK Collection Asia. The exhibition presents a selection of 90 ceramic, bronze, lacquerwork, and porcelain objects created between 1870 and 1912, but also purchased for or donated to the then Museum of Art and Industry (today’s MAK) in that same period. Particularly illuminative is the comparison between ‘official’ objects donated by Japanese state institutions and others that came to the museum through private donations.

From 1869 to 1871, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy had sent out the “Imperial and Royal East Asian Expedition” to China, Siam, and Japan to set up diplomatic relations between these countries and Austria. Arthur von Scala, an expert of the then Museum of Art and Industry, took part in the expedition on which the first Japanese items were acquired for the museum—of which only very few are still extant in the MAK collection.

The 1873 Vienna World’s Fair where Japan first presented itself to Europe as a nation with a broad range of products, offered a variety of interesting art and crafts pieces, many of which were later donated by the Japanese government to several European museums, including today’s MAK. Prior to the World’s Fair, Japan had made an effort to manufacture products to the European taste, though with little success. So the decision was made that the country should present itself in Vienna with products based on its own tradition.

Many of the works exhibited in the show were previously presented in international exhibitions, while others, mostly donations from travelers to Japan, are show for the first time here. These sometimes strange-looking objects attest to the taste of the epoch and to a frequently very personal interest in the then far-away country.

Curator Johannes Wieninger, MAK Curator Asia
 

MAK Study Collection The MAK exhibits part of its extensive collection on a permanent basis in the Study Collection. The arrangement by materials corresponds to the specializations of the collection's curators, while the selection of objects is based on major lines of development. Temporary exhibitions offer an opportunity to cast a spotlight on various aspects of the collection and to consider objects in the collection between the poles of applied and contemporary art.