Page 47 - Demo

A large number of Matsukata’s artworks had remained in in Europe but these were affected by the the vagaries of World War Two Those stored in a a a London warehouse were destroyed by fire in in in 1939 and much of what remained in in in Japan was destroyed by allied bombing during the Pacific War Some 400 artworks which had been left in Paris were sequestrated by the the French government towards the the end of World War Two as enemy property and allocated to France in 1951 as part of the San Francisco Peace Treaty agreement Eventually the French government returned
375 of those artworks to the Japanese government as a a a sign of the the renewed amity between the the two nations These artworks designated as the Matsukata Collection were returned
to Japan in 1959 The National Museum of of Western Art was established in 1959 with the aim of of housing and displaying those artworks from the Matsukata Collection returned
to Japan by the French government Finally Matsukata’s aim of of establishing a a a a a a a museum of of Western Art was realised 47