With our delayed flight on Sunday (hung out in the San Francisco airport for 8 hours after flying in from Osaka), and adjusting back to Boston life, this post about the sculpture garden called the Hakone Open-Air Museum is a few days delayed. But no less fantastic. I loved exploring Tokyo and Kyoto, but in terms of actual sights, this was by far my favorite.
The Hakone Open-Air Museum opened in 1969 as the first open-air art museum in Japan. I wasn’t sure what “open-air” meant, but quickly discovered it is a vast sculpture garden. There are also four indoor exhibition halls though I didn’t have time to see any of those.
The museum’s collections include about 100 sculptures by both Asian and Western artists including Rodin, Miro, and Moore. In fact, I believe I read that the Hakone Open-Air Museum has the largest collection of Henry Moore sculptures in the world.
The museum is also known for its hot springs-fed foot bath. (Hakone is a resort town famous for its hot springs.) It was my first introduction to the Japanese foot bath, and sublime.
Here are some of my favorite pieces from my afternoon at the Hakone Open-Air Museum last week.
unidentified
Agustin Cardenas, Femme au Repos, 1976
Jean Dubuffet, Arborescence, 1971-80
Niki de Saint Phalle, Miss Black Power, 1968
Barry Flanagan, Two Boxing Rabbits, 1965
foreground: Henry Moore
background: Gabriel Loire, Symphonic Sculpture
Henry Moore, Reclining Figure Arch Leg
Ryoli Gojo, Intersecting Space Construction, 1978
Ryoli Gojo, Intersecting Space Construction, 1978, detail
Giuliano Vangi, Grande Racconto, 2004
Arnaldo Pomodoro, Sphere Within Sphere (Sfera con sfera)
Carl Milles, The Hand of God
fried egg benches
Barbara Hepworth, Two Figures, 1968
Henry Moore, Reclining Figure: Angles, 1979
Jean Arp, The Giant Pip
Matchinsky-Denninghoff, Sturm, 1980
unidentified
Rainer Kreister, Big Hand
Kenneth Armitage, Both Arms, 1969-70
unidentified
Alexander Calder, Les Aretes de Poisson, 1966
Jim Dine, The Lookout Tower, 1990
Hiroatsu Takata, La Mer, 1962
Henry Moore, Family Group, 1948-49
Henry Moore, Mother and Child: Block Seat, 1983-84
César, La Victoire de Villetaneuse, 1965
César, La Victoire de Villetaneuse, 1965, detail
César, La Victoire de Villetaneuse, 1965, detail
Ossip Zadkine, La Demeure, 1960
foot bath