Japan Art Blockbusters: Boffo Box Office

[Charles]

The Art Newspaper: Japanese shows get top visitor numbers
The 2001 semi-privatisation of centrally funded institutions has led to a string of blockbusters at one end, and museum closures at the other

Exhibitions in Japan have shot to the top of The Art Newspaper

[Charles]

From the Art Newspaper March 2007
(not available online)

Exhibition Attendance Figures 2006
Tokyo tops list for third year, while London falls behind
Exhibition content, venue capacity, and catchment all play a role in determining visitor numbers

Judging exhibitions by the number of people who attend them understandably makes museums nervous. But as our 11th annual survey shows, there is no sign of "blockbusters" waning: they continue to generate enormous public interest with more than 15m people seeing the top 50.
For the third year, exhibitions in Tokyo top the list. The show with the highest daily attendance last year was "The Price Collection: Jakuchu and the Age of Imagination" at the Tokyo National Museum in its enormous Heisei wing. Drawn from the holdings of California collectors Joe and Etsuko Price, it focused on late 18th-century Edo painters, in particular the influential artist Ito Jakuchu. It has 6,446 daily visitors: huge, although not as high as the 9,436 the museum averaged in 2005 for its "Hokusai" show.
The second most visited show was also in Tokyo, "Leonard Foujita" at the National Museum of Modern Art (6,324 a day). Foujita left Japan for early 20th century Paris, and absorbed western modernism into his work.
The capacity of museums in Tokyo to accommodate large numbers of visitors is no doubt a factor--as is the size of the city's population. Tokyo has more than 12m residents, with a further 23m in the surrounding area. It is far more densely populated than any of the other cities we have analysed: New York, Washington, London and Paris. As museums spring up in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in the run up to the 2008 Olympics, it will be interesting to see what effect their large, educated populations have on their gallery-going figures.
Programming also has a major influence. Hokusai is without doubt Japan's best-loved artist, so it would be difficult to repeat 2005's extraordinary daily figures. Tokyo museums have also shifted their emphasis: in 2005, four of the top six exhibitions in the Japanese capital featured western art ("Works from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium").
One of the factors encouraging Japan's state-run museums to put on blockbusters has been a legal change in 2001 which required them to generate more of their own income. In France, a similar change in 2003 seems to be also having an impact. In 2005, Paris hosted seven of the top 50 shows. Last year, it had ten, nearly all higher up in the rankings.
Arguably, it is museums in Britain that have been under the most government pressure to attract more visitors. So it is instructive that London appears to be bucking the blockbuster trend. In 2005, there were five London exhibitions in the top 50: in 2006 only one, "Kandinsky" at Tate Modern at number 45.
The reasons for the drop in visitors are nearly all to do with exhibition content: in 2005 Tate Britain put on London's top show "Turner, Whistler, Monet" with an (unbearably packed) daily average of 4,024. Although critically acclaimed, the follow up in 2006 "Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec" was less overtly popular, attracting an average of 2,008 visitors a day. At the Royal Academy, "Turks" in 2005 averaged an (unpleasantly crammed) 3,358: in 2006 its "China: the Three Emperors"had 2,105 visitors a day.
Some of it is to do with the way we report the figures: shows finishing in January 2007 will be included in next year's results. The National Gallery had "Caravaggio" and "Raphael" in the top 50 in 2005, but its equally attractive "Velasquez" finished on 21 January 2007 and will appear in next year's survey.
The one constant over the years is the dominance of New York and in particular the Museum of Modern Art. In 2005, 15 of the top 50 shows were in New York, six at MoMA. In 2006, 12 of the top shows were in New York, again with six at MoMa.
No list like this can claim to be comprehensive. Most of the major art museums in Berlin, and indeed most of the museums in Germany contacted by us, had not yet collated their attendance figures. Other major museums including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Whitney in New York say they have no system for counting visitors to their exhibitions so were unable to participate.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've only been to a "blockbuster" exhibit in Tokyo once. The experience made me never want to go to one again. It was so crowded that it was very hard to enjoy the art. Bascially I spent the whole time standing in line moving from one piece to the next. I felt like I couldn't linger in front of the works that I most enjoyed because of the pressure to keep the line moving. From the article it sounds like this is the norm in most cities though. I've been to MOMA plenty of times but never for a big exhibit so it was always enjoyable.

[Charles]

I have to agree, attending a blockbuster is terribly annoying, and the behavior of the people in Japanese museums is particularly horrible. I remember one packed exhibit where everyone seemed to be using some stupid radio devices with an audio narration, they all wanted to push along to keep up with the narration, shoving people out of their way.
I like to sketch and take notes, which can really cause problems. I recall one museum (which was totally empty when I visited) where a guard came over and told me that taking notes in pen was prohibited, only pencils were allowed. I protested that I was using a mechanical pencil, she offered me a wooden pencil and said I should use that. But then, I was actually ejected from a museum here in the states for taking notes (with a pencil).
I find this all rather ridiculous and opposed to the basic function of museums. The last time I went to the Art Institute in Chicago, I saw a student with an easel set up in front of their Caravaggio, he was working on an oil painting study. That's what museums are for, not just to show works to the public, but as a resource for artists.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have to agree, attending a blockbuster is terribly annoying, and the behavior of the people in Japanese museums is particularly horrible. I remember one packed exhibit where everyone seemed to be using some stupid radio devices with an audio narration, they all wanted to push along to keep up with the narration, shoving people out of their way.
I like to sketch and take notes, which can really cause problems. I recall one museum (which was totally empty when I visited) where a guard came over and told me that taking notes in pen was prohibited, only pencils were allowed. I protested that I was using a mechanical pencil, she offered me a wooden pencil and said I should use that. But then, I was actually ejected from a museum here in the states for taking notes (with a pencil).
I find this all rather ridiculous and opposed to the basic function of museums. The last time I went to the Art Institute in Chicago, I saw a student with an easel set up in front of their Caravaggio, he was working on an oil painting study. That's what museums are for, not just to show works to the public, but as a resource for artists.

Why would a museum not allow someone to take notes or make sketches? I could see not wanting someone to set up an easel and do an oil painting during a particularly packed exhibit but otherwise I don't know why it would be a problem. And only allowing pencils to take notes is especially baffling.

[Charles]

Why would a museum not allow someone to take notes or make sketches? I could see not wanting someone to set up an easel and do an oil painting during a particularly packed exhibit but otherwise I don't know why it would be a problem. And only allowing pencils to take notes is especially baffling.

I never have figured that out, I suppose they thought I could vandalize their exhibit with permanent ink, but pencil is easy to remove. But that makes no sense either, because I was taking notes at a display where everything was behind glass. And if I really wanted to vandalize their exhibit, I probably would use something that could do more damage than a little pen.
Museums have strange policies sometimes. I once took a friend to the Art Institute, I particularly wanted to show him some ukiyo-e surimono and point out a couple of features I particularly liked, and had described to him before but he couldn't understand without seeing them. When we went to the gallery, there was a new sign on the wall, I had never seen it before, nor have I seen any similar sign anywhere else. It read, "No Lecturing." Sheesh.

[Samurai_Jerk]

When we went to the gallery, there was a new sign on the wall, I had never seen it before, nor have I seen any similar sign anywhere else. It read, "No Lecturing." Sheesh.

What the fuck does that mean? Do they have a guided tour they want people to pay for and are worried about the competition? What about school field trips? I guess a teacher wouldn't be able to tell his or her art class about any of the pieces. That really is disgusting.

BTW, did you heed the sign?

[Charles]

BTW, did you heed the sign?

I tried to quietly describe a few points to my friend, but I got shushed by a guard.