Menu Open
Menu Close

Past Special Exhibitions

Easel Paint, c. 1959

The Pleasures of Colors
— Shiseido Paint Sets

Exhibits of Corporate Culture

29 June (Tue) to 19 December (Sun), 2009

For short time during the late 1950s, Shiseido manufactured a variety of crayons, paints, and other art pigments, with the aim of introducing children to the pleasures of drawing and painting with colors. These included a string of ground-breaking new products that helped to guide Japan's new art education, and many featured charming packaging that encouraged children to try their hands at pictorial art. This exhibition highlights how well these colors have retained their bright appeal over time, and explores how they contributed to a next generation of education in Japan.

Lucky Sandals, from Cosmetics Day, 1933

Small Pleasures
— Changing Styles
of Shiseido's “Favor Gifts”

Exhibits of Corporate Culture

6 January (Wed) to 27 June (Sun), 2010

Amidst the general lack of material prosperity in the 1920s and 1930s, Shiseido aimed to bring some small pleasure to customers purchasing makeup or soap by presenting them with miniature versions of everyday items. The specific nature of these miniatures changed with the changing times, and looking at them today we can catch glimpses of changing lifestyles. This exhibition considers three decades of such favor gifts, from the 1930s through the post-war economic boom-time, divided into three eras. From these we can see a degree of high quality and careful construction that speak volumes about Shiseido's style as a company.