The National Art Center- The Lady and the Unicorn exhibit

After class, we went to the National Art Center, one of Japan's newest national museums, which features a range of changing exhibitions. The building itself is a wave of glass, curvy and bright inside. We walk by it everyday, as it is located right next to our apartment! This month the exhibit was The Lady and the Unicorn from the Musee de Cluny, Paris. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries date from the 1500s and would function both to artistically decorate the interiors and also keep the stone castles' rooms warm. There are six huge tapestries, five featuring the five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing) and the sixth is a mystery, considered maybe the heart, reason, or love. It was neat seeing the tapestries again after our first time in Paris actually in the Musee de Cluny, during  our very first study abroad program learning French.

A note about the origins of the unicorn with Christianity. During the 2nd century, Physiologus, a book written in Greek, explains the allegorical meanings of Christ through the unicorn as a fierce animal who is calmed only in front of a virgin. The hunter, Archangel Gabriel, announces to the Virgin Mary that she is carrying Christ who is symbolized by the unicorn. The book was translated into many languages and was disseminated widely as shown by these 16th century tapestries. 

 The National Art Center, Tokyo

 

The Lady and the Unicorn, special exhibit

 

wavy walls of glass