TOTTORI--When chief curator Shinichiro Osaki sought pieces for the planned Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art, artworks created by U.S. artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) seemed a natural drawing card. 

However, the Tottori prefectural government’s purchase of Warhol artworks has raised anger among residents, who question whether six pieces by the pop art icon are worth the high price.

The prefecture spent about 337 million yen ($2.58 million) for five pieces of “Brillo Soap Pads Box” and a 3-D version of the “Campbell’s Soup Cans”  as the highlight of the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art.

The first prefecture-run museum is scheduled to open in spring 2025 in Kurayoshi in the prefecture. 

EXPENSIVE WARHOL BOXES

The “Brillo Boxes” are replicas of delivery cardboard boxes for U.S.-made Brillo scouring pads impregnated with soap, which were first shown in 1964.

Made with wooden boards, the boxes were painted in white before the design of the original was faithfully silkscreened on the cubes.

The red-and-blue design on a white background became popular, making the “Brillo Boxes” one of Warhol's representative works.

For the fiscal 2022 ending in March, the prefectural government bought a rare piece created in 1968 for 68.31 million yen and four more pieces produced in later years for 55.78 million yen each.

It also purchased an aluminum cast of a “Campbell’s Soup Cans” for 45.54 million yen.

But news of the expensive purchases caused a stir among social media users, who were baffled by the decision to pay about 300 million yen for mere boxes.

Following the public uproar, the prefectural education board held explanatory meetings across the prefecture. Residents criticized the purchases.

“It is difficult to understand why these are worth 300 million yen,” one said, while another added: “Why can’t you make the wise decision to scrap the purchase when we have been thrown into difficulties due to the novel coronavirus pandemic?”

Meanwhile, some residents said it is worthwhile to see the authentic Warhol pieces in Tottori.

Another expressed concerns over the current situation, saying that many people are ignorant about Warhol because the prefectural government has made little efforts to promote art.

The explanatory sessions were held at five locations in the prefecture by the end of last year, attended by a total of about 200 residents.

The education board also hosted a lecture about the “Brillo Boxes” on three occasions since last year.

The education board said it will host more explanatory meetings and create other opportunities to gain understanding from the public.

Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai referred to the divisive issue at his regular news conference in November and made a proposal.

“How about deciding on whether to continue possessing the ‘Brillo Boxes’ for display at the new museum after letting visitors vote on the issue in three years or so?”

COMMON PRACTICE IN JAPAN

In fact, several public museums in Japan previously purchased expensive art pieces.

The Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, which is known for its collection of Jean-Francois Millet’s works, bought “The Sower,” one of the French artist’s representative paintings, for 107 million yen just before the museum opened in 1977.

It went on to buy “Summer, The Gleaners” for 398 million yen in 1996.

Now boasting 70 Millet pieces in its collection, the museum attracts fans from across the country, an official said.

The Nagoya city government spent 360 million yen in 1986 to buy Amedeo Modigliani's “Girl with Pigtails,” while the Osaka city government paid 1.93 billion yen for the Italian painter's “Reclining Nude with Loose Hair” in 1989.

However, some purchases sparked controversy.

The Aomori prefectural government bought three scenic backdrops for the ballet of “Aleko” by Marc Chagall in 1994 for about 1.5 billion yen.

But an ombudsman group filed a request for disclosure of information, saying that details on how the prefectural government decided to buy the artworks were unclear.

A panel of outside experts pointed out various factors, including a lack of professional judgment stemming from the fact that there were no curators at the section in charge of the matter.

The Utsunomiya city government spent 620 million yen to buy Rene Magritte’s “The Large Family” in 1996, receiving criticism from the city assembly and residents who said the purchase process was unclear.

LACK OF PUBLIC EXPLANATION

Osaki, 61, who is in charge of the promotion of fine art at the Tottori prefectural education board’s bureau of museum development, said he regrets failing to provide an adequate explanation of how the museum intends to collect its exhibits.

Osaki, who is leading the project to open the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art as chief curator, admitted that he should have informed residents about the Warhol purchases to gain their understanding before the news broke.

Mentioning Hirai’s proposal, Osaki said it is not in the cards for a public art museum to let go of the items it has purchased with taxpayers’ money.

“Museums are under an obligation to pass down their collections to posterity,” he said.

He continued that it was only natural for residents to be perplexed by the “Brillo Boxes” because they had less opportunities to see Warhol’s works than those living in urban areas.

“With the first prefectural museum, we want to improve such a situation and help them deepen their artistic knowledge,” he said.

Osaki remembers how everything inside the predecessor of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art was jumbled after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake when he was working at the museum.

But when he organized an exhibition in the lobby of a bank about two months after the disaster, he strongly felt the importance of fine art once again as local residents said they were exposed to art for the first time in a while and were deeply impressed by artworks.

“We are living in a time like this, and that is all the more reason why I believe we must build a cultural infrastructure,” he added.