Museum &
Library
Collections
Musashino Art University Museum & Library (MAU M&L) houses a diverse collection of artwork, design materials, and rare books.
By providing important primary material for researching art and design, the collection serves a meaningful function in society.
MAU M&L Cross-search System
Artworks, rarebook, library, serial publication, imagelibrary and folkart database
Museum
Collections
Since opening in 1967, the Museum has collected approximately 40,000 works of art and design-related materials. The collection includes about 30,000 posters, focusing on outstanding examples of Japanese and international design from the 20th century, and about 400 modern chairs.
The Museum’s wide-ranging collection includes household implements, toys, and other examples of product design; paintings and sculptures primarily by MAU faculty; and Kiyoji Otsuji’s photography archive including printed images, film negatives, and related materials.
Library
Collections
The Library has a collection of approximately 320,000 books and 5,000 titles of academic and specialized periodicals with an emphasis on art, design, and architecture. With about 50,000 exhibition catalogues, 5,500 picture books, and 1,000 “books on books” collected from the perspectives of history, culture and design, the collection is useful for research and academic study.
In addition, the library’s vast collection of rare resources includes avant-garde art, a natural history archive, Nara ehon (handwritten illustrated books), and ukiyozoshi (popular fiction from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). These resources are frequently utilized in diverse courses, seminars, and lectures.
Folk Art Gallery
Collections
The Folk Art Gallery contains artifacts of culture and lifestyles from throughout Japan. The collection of nearly 90,000 items includes domestic tools and utensils such as ceramics, bamboo craftwork, cloth, folk toys, kites and articles related to religious beliefs.
These materials were collected by the life culture research group under the direction of folklorist and MAU professor Tsuneichi Miyamoto. In addition, the collection includes approximately 18,000 items donated by the Japan Tourism Culture Research Center, as well as folk toys collected by the photographer Kiyoshi Sonobe.
This distinctive collection is widely utilized as an educational resource in courses and lectures, offering an excellent opportunity to understand the history of Japanese culture and look toward its future, as well as to learn about art and design.
Image Library
Collections
The Image Library comprises a vast collection of visual materials (BD/DVD/VHS/LD/16mm films) from a broad range of genres including movies, documentary films, animation, and art films relevant to arts education. This valuable educational resource numbers around 20,000 items, including not only works that are indispensable to the study of film and visual history, but also many that are rarely shown despite their outstanding artistic merit.
In addition, movie screenings are held regularly with the aim of contributing to diverse artistic activities.