Past Exhibition

ART DECO IN THE CITY

For fifty days from April 1st through May 28th, 2006, the SHISEIDO GALLERY and the HOUSE OF SHISEIDO* will hold their first joint exhibition, titled Art Deco in the City.
*Located in Ginza 8-chome and 7-chome, respectively.

The decorative design style known as "Art Deco," originating during the 1920s and 1930s and retaining its strong appeal throughout the nearly eighty years since, has constantly manifested itself in unique ways as it has been embraced by different countries and cultures throughout the world. The Art Deco in the City exhibition explores how Art Deco has manifested itself in distinct ways in prominent architectural landmarks and interior designs in a variety of cities throughout the world.
The SHISEIDO GALLERY portion of the exhibition will spotlight the decorative architecture of hotels, since such buildings are often among the most symbolic structures of any given urban landscape. Hotels, because they offer spaces that are "extra-ordinary" while at the same time endeavoring to serve as comfortable extensions of everyday life, have often proved to be among the most richly featured examples of structures preserving the functional and decorative elements that have characterized Art Deco.

Photographer, columnist, and architect Naoto Inaba embarked upon a project to stay in and photograph Art Deco-style hotels in eleven different world cities, and the scheduled exhibition is comprised of approximately 180 images selected from the extensive collection he amassed during that journey. These have been grouped into four separate collections, each featuring several different cities, to be exhibited for two weeks each (schedule below), as well as a series of Shanghai photos to be shown for the duration of the exhibition at the HOUSE OF SHISEIDO's second-floor gallery. Each exhibit will also be accompanied by audio recordings made during the photo shooting at each location, enriching the exhibition's capacity to transport viewers around the world and through time to visit the world's Art Deco hotels.

The HOUSE OF SHISEIDO will exhibit Art Deco examples from both Shanghai and Tokyo's Ginza district, focusing on Shiseido's Takekawa-cho store, which was constructed in 1928 and was itself one of Ginza's first examples of Art Deco architecture.

In the midst of the modern world, inundated with its changing, growing myriad of design approaches and styles, the Art Deco in the City exhibition offers a golden opportunity to revisit the appealing fusion of beauty and function that have endured as the essential spirit of the Art Deco movement.

Schedule of Exhibits

April 1st - 16th: Paris, London, and Lucerne
April 18th - 30th: Santa Monica, Long Beach, and New York
May 2nd - 14th: Miami Beach
May 16th - 28th: West Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Napier

*The Shanghai photos will be shown on the HOUSE OF SHISEIDO's second floor for the duration of the exhibition from April 1st through May 28th.

Exhibition Details for- HOUSE OF SHISEIDO / SHISEIDO GALLERY Joint Exhibition -
Art Deco in the City

April 1st (Sat) through May 28th (Sun).

Open 11:00 - 19:00 on weekdays,

11:00 - 18:00 on Sundays and Holidays.
Closed on Mondays.
Admission is free.


II Paris, London, Santa Monica...
Art Deco — The Hotel, through the lens of Naoto Inaba

Location: SHISEIDO GALLERY
Tokyo Ginza Shiseido Bldg., B1
8-8-3, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
Tel: 03-3572-3901 Fax: 03-3572-3951

I Ginza, Shanghai

Location: HOUSE OF SHISEIDO
Shiseido Main Bldg, 1F and 2F
7-5-5, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
Tel: 03-3571-0401 Fax: 03-3571-0402

Naoto Inaba

Born in Tokyo. Upon graduating from the Department of Architecture and Building Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Inaba designed bars, restaurants, and clubs in Art Deco style and early American style. After receiving qualification as first class architect, he designed houses while also working as architect producer involved in planning and producing commercial facilities and condominiums. His unique technique for purchasing apartments has been featured on TV and in newspapers, while he started a series of photographs and travel accounts in a monthly magazine. In 1998, he marked his debut as a columnist with To Hotels Unknown. In 2001, he was awarded the JTB Travel Literature Encouragement Prize for his full-length travel account Palace of Illusion. Since then, he has published photographs and travel accounts extensively on the theme of masterpiece architecture hotels and Japanese style inns. This is his first photograph exhibition and the publication Art Deco — The Hotel to be launched together with the exhibition will be his first photographic publication.

Major Publications

1998 To Hotels Unknown (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., Shinchosha Publishing Co.)
1999 Pitfalls of Purchasing Apartments 2000-2001 (Kodansha Ltd.)
2000 How to Conquer the Real Estate Man (Kodansha Ltd.)
Palace of illusion (Shinchosha Publishing Co.)
2001 When a Woman Rents a Room (Kodansha Ltd.)
High Selling Apartments Low Selling Apartments (Kodansha Ltd.)
2002 Hotels (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.)
Fine Architecture I Checked in (Shinchosha Publishing Co.)
2003 To Faraway Hotels (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.)
2004 Midnight Hotel (PHP Institute, Inc.)
Lodgings from the Masters (Shinchosha Publishing Co.)
2006 Art Deco — The Hotel (Kyuryudo Art Publishing Co., Ltd.)
Dining in Modern Fine Architecture (Byakuya-shobo Co., Ltd.) to be published

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