人類にとって最大の発明のひとつとされる文字。その奥深さに魅せられた中西亮(あきら)氏は世界でも稀有な文字ハンターとして多くの文字資料の収集をしました。本展では、“みんぱく”こと国立民族学博物館に収められた「中西コレクション」を中心に世界の様々な文字の魅力に迫ります。
A Treasury of Written Characters:
The Nakanishi Collection Amassed from World Travels at the National Museum of Ethnology
Osaka: 4 March-17 May,2016
Tokyo: 2 June-27 August,2016
Written characters are said to be one of humanity’s greatest inventions. While several thousand languages exist in the world, only about 300 writing systems are thought to exist, including those which are no longer in use. These writing systems have evolved mainly from three sources: Egyptian characters, cuneiform characters, and Chinese characters. Written characters not only give a visual form to sounds and meanings, they are in each case a crystallization of the ethnic culture which produced them, with a formal beauty and mystery all their own.
Akira Nakanishi (1928-94), the sixth generation head of Nakanishi Printing Company in Kyoto, was a man of rare distinction in the world: a “character hunter.” Driven by his deep curiosity about little known written characters, Nakanishi visited over 100 countries during 25 years and collected nearly 3,000 specimens. The specimens, representing 95 different types of writing systems, are preserved as the “Nakanishi Collection” at the National Museum of Ethnology.
This exhibition displays some 80 specimens of written characters from throughout the world, primarily from the Nakanishi Collection. The specimens are organized in sections reflecting the Middle Eastern and European cultural spheres, Indian and Southeast Asian cultural spheres, Chinese (East Asian) cultural spheres, and so on. In valuable inscriptions, visitors can marvel at the diversity of written characters and rich creativity of the people who created them. To enable a sense of Nakanishi’s boundless passion for collecting characters, furthermore, a portion of his great many travel albums are displayed, as well. Visitors, it is hoped, will enjoy discovering the vastness and variety of the world of written characters.
We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the National Museum of Ethnology, Nakanishi Printing Company, and Hidehiko Nakanishi for their generous cooperation. We would also like to convey our appreciation to all the individuals whose efforts have made this exhibition a reality.
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ギャラリー1(東京): | 2016年6月2日(木)〜8月27日(土) □Closed:水曜日/Wednesday、8/10-17 □AM10:00〜PM6:00 □入場無料/Free |
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ギャラリー大阪: | 2016年3月4日(金)〜5月17日(火) □Closed:水曜日(祝日は開館)/Wednesday(excluding holidays) □AM10:00〜PM5:00 □入場無料/Free |
講演 会「文字学の楽しみ」(大阪) | |||||||||||||
講演 会「文字ハンターとの旅 -文字の魅力と私のタイポグラフィ-」(東京) | |||||||||||||
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