Sometimes people are disappointed with the quality of exhibitions visiting Japan, but there are no reservations about the superb drawings now at the Tobu Museum of Art.
To illustrate the theme of "landscapes in the making," nearly 100 drawings and several prints have been selected from the extensive collection of London University's Courtauld Gallery, one of Britain's leading institutions of art.
This exhibition can be enjoyed on several levels. Firstly, for the talent of the 16th- and 17th-century Flemish and Dutch draftsmen. Here are rustling woodlands, sun-dappled valleys and old villages where it is a delight to linger. Then, informal sketches, sometimes scribbled on both sides of the paper, show the eyes and hands of artists at work. Also, there are detailed, incredibly skillful works that reveal the true value of drawings as finished works of art.