”Otsuka Museum of Art” – An impressive collection of over 1000 masterpieces from around the world

2010.1.272019.4.23

Reproduction method called Toban (ceramic panel)

The Otsuka Museum of Art founded by the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group is the world first toban (ceramic panel) masterpiece museum with over 1000 famous Western paintings. In the past, most of the reproductions of paintings were made on paper or canvas. But such reproductions are vulnerable to fading color and deterioration. Toban-ga was developed by Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics, part of the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Group.
Toban-ga is an accurate reproduction of the original painting with the same colors and size on a large ceramic plate. It is an epoch-making invention because the colors will not fade even after 1000 years, so the original value of the masterpieces can be preserved without any deterioration.

Meeting the world’s treasures

At the Otsuka Museum of Art, we are able to view the masterpieces of the world, right here in Japan. These include the reproductions of Guernica that was on display, and the El Greco’s Altarpiece that was dispersed due to war. Some of the masterpieces are quite large, and baking ceramics to fit them was quite difficult. It was also necessary to develop more than 20,000 colors to reproduce the colors in the original paintings. But these challenges were solved by the highly advanced technology available in Japan, making it possible for us to actually see all of the valuable paintings.
Visiting this museum, you can see the world’s treasures which used to only be available in textbooks and art books.