With the sweltering heat of summer now upon us, you could do worse than escape into the Suntory Museum in Akasaka to visit its exhibition of glass art. There is something particularly cooling about looking at these 142 exhibits, which range from a fragment enameled with a charming bird design from Roman Egypt to a startling and rather baffling work by contemporary artist Hiroshi Yamano titled "From East to West -- 'Fish Catcher Bag Type #4,' " a large hunk of watery-looking glass containing glass fish that appear dead!
Curator Ruriko Tsuchida explains that there are four principal ways to enhance the natural beauty of glass -- cutting, engraving, blowing or painting on it. Although many of the items on display include elements of the first three techniques, the focus is on glass painting.
"In one sense, painting on glass impairs it," Tsuchida says. "So, when I see glass art, the most important thing is the balance between artistic expression and retaining the character of the glass." The wide range of exhibits allows the visitor to trace this tension between medium and decoration through two millennia of glass art.