Sometimes even provincial cities in the West seem to have much greater public art resources than Japan's capital. This is driven home by a video at the "Pre-Raphaelite and Romantic Painting from National Museums Liverpool" exhibition now on at Tokyo's Bunkamura The Museum.
The video shows the three museums from which the exhibits are sourced, each one a beautiful piece of architecture gifted to the city by a wealthy donor, and all containing excellent collections that can be seen entirely for free. What a contrast with Tokyo, where museums often resemble office buildings and free entrance is a rarity.
What we get at this exhibition — and also at the three Liverpool museums — is essentially a revolt against the modern world and the suggestion that life could be a lot more beautiful than it is.