お家に掛けられる現代アート作品をご紹介し、日常にアートを取り入れる楽しさをお伝えできればと思い綴っているブログです。
作品や作家を知ることから、あなたにとって特別な作品との出会いに繋がれば嬉しいです。
今回は、すどう美術館 須藤一郎館長の「館長のひとりごと」を掲載します。
館長の称号
「館長」を名乗って30年余となりました。個人美術館ですし、館長の肩書を使うなど全く考えてもいないことだったのですが、こんな経緯によってです。
1990年秋に東京町田の自宅を開放し、すどう美術館の名で集めた美術作品を2か月ごとに掛け替えて、皆さんに見ていただくことを始めたわけですが、私はまだ会社に行っていた時期で開館は木曜から日曜にかけての週4日間とし、平日は妻が、土、日は私と妻二人で来館者を応対しての出発でした。やがて講演会の開催や「シンポジュウム」なども行うようになりました。
開館後しばらくして、菅創吉の作品を買うきっかけとなった伊豆の池田20世紀美術館の牧田喜好館長（当時）が訪れてくれ、「小なりといえども立派な美術館です。活動する上からも、館長を決めるべきです」とのアドバイスをいただいたのです。
それで妻との激しいポスト争いの結果、私が館長の椅子を得たのは1992年春でした。早速、牧田館長に報告に行きましたところ「奥さんによく勝てましたね」と館長就任を祝ってくださいました。私が負けると思っていたのでしょうね。
初めは館長の名刺を出すのは面映ゆかったのですが、関係するアーティストや他の皆さんから「館長」と呼ばれるようになって次第に慣れてきたものです。
なお、妻は勝手に副館長を名乗るようになりました。
さて、その後銀座への進出、小田原への移転と拠点を移しながら活動を続けてきたわけですが、妻の大病、死亡などにより、常時の展覧会開催が難しくなり、展示スペースを閉じたため、ここ数年はなど外での活動が中心になりました。
ありがたいことに、収集作品の質とこれまでの活動の実績を評価いただき、また多くの人の助けがあって、コレクション展や講演の依頼、いろいろな取材、そして執筆活動など一面ではそれまで以上に忙しい日を送っています。
コレクション展で言えばそれぞれご依頼を受けて、神奈川県大井町、秦野のぎゃらりーぜん（毎年継続）、銀座のギャラリー枝香庵、横浜の大津ギャラリー、鴨宮のギャラリーNEW新九郎、そして一昨年の多摩美術大学美術館などで充実した展覧会が行われてきたことはとても感激です。
新しい世界が広がっていると言えるのかなと感じています。
少し気になりますのは美術館という拠点を持ってもいないのに引き続き「館長」というちょっと偉そうな肩書を使っていていいのだろうかということです。
でも長く付き合いのある皆さんは館長の呼び名の方が言いやすく、今更「須藤さん」とも呼び難いかとも思いますし、もう少し館長のままでいかせてもらおうと思います。
それに、館長の名を辞めるとすれば、即、この「館長のひとりごと」は終わりになってしまいますので。
すどう美術館 館長 須藤一郎
協力：すどう美術館
[ Gallery SUDOH director’s monologue ] Part32 “To be called the director”
This is a blog that introduces contemporary art works that can be hung in your home.
I would like to share with you the joy of incorporating art into your daily life.
I hope that by looking at the artworks and artists, you will be able to encounter a special piece of art for yourself.
This time, with the cooperation of Ichiro Sudoh, Director of Gallery SUDOH, I will be posting [ Gallery SUDOH director’s monologue ] .
To be called the director
It has been more than 30 years since I took the title of “Director”. As a private gallery, I had never thought of using the title of “director,” but this is how I came to call myself so.
In the fall of 1990, I opened my house in Machida, Tokyo, to the public and began to exhibit art works collected under the name of the Gallery SUDOH, changing the exhibits every two months. On weekdays, my wife and I would greet visitors on Saturdays and Sundays. Eventually, we began holding lectures and symposiums.
Some time after the gallery opened, Kiyoshi Makita, then director of the Ikeda 20th Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Izu, which led to the purchase of Sokichi Suga’s works, visited us and advised, “Even though it is small, it is a fine art gallery. He advised us that we should choose a director for the gallery from the standpoint of its activities.
So, as a result of a dispute with my wife, I was appointed director in the spring of 1992. I immediately went to Director Makita to report to him, and he congratulated me on my appointment, saying, “You did well to beat your wife. He must have thought I would lose.
At first it was embarrassing to give out my business card as the director of the gallery, but I gradually became accustomed to being called “director” by artists and others involved in the project.
My wife has taken the liberty of calling herself the deputy director.
After that, it moved to Ginza and then to Odawara, and has continued its activities while moving its base of operations.
However, due to the serious illness and death of my wife, it became difficult to hold exhibitions on a regular basis, and I closed my exhibition space, so for the past several years, I have been mainly active outside of the city.
Thankfully, the quality of the works in our collection and the results of our activities to date have been well received, and with the help of many people, we have been busier than ever on the one hand with collection exhibitions, requests for lectures, various interviews, and writing activities, and on the other.
In terms of collection exhibitions, we have received requests for each of them, and we have had substantial exhibitions in Oimachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Gallery Zen in Hadano (continuing every year), Gallery Eko-an in Ginza, Otsu Gallery in Yokohama, Gallery NEW Shinkuro in Kamomiya, and the Museum of Tama Art University the year before last, which is very impressive.
I feel that we can say that a new world is opening up.
I am a little concerned about whether I should continue to use the slightly pompous title of “director” when I do not even have a base of operations as an art gallery.
However, I think it is easier for those of you who have known me for a long time to refer to me as “Director,” and I think it would be difficult to call me “Mr. Sudoh” now, so I think I will remain as Director for a while longer.
Besides, if I were to resign the name of director, this “Director’s monologue” would immediately come to an end.
Ichiro Sudoh
Cooperation： Gallery SUDOH
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
