The Ins and Outs of Style: Japanese Postwar Fashion
Christopher Stephens
In its highest form, fashion is a thing of transcendent beauty with the simultaneous ability to charm and shock. Clothes also have the power to change the culture. Many such examples can be found in Fashion in Japan 1945-2020, which just ended at the Iwami Art Museum in Masuda, Shimane Prefecture, but will be on view again at the National Art Center, Tokyo from 9 June to 6 September. This comprehensive survey examines key sartorial trends of the last 75 years while linking them to social currents and historical events. The exhibition is made up of actual garments, photographs, drawings, magazines, and videos arranged chronologically in nine sections. more...
Seventy Years of Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama
Susan Rogers Chikuba
The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama is marking its 70th anniversary with Forms in Space: from Alberto Giacometti to Tadaaki Kuwayama, a showcase of some 90 contemporary sculptures from its formidable collection of hundreds. Concurrently, one gallery is given over to The Works of Isamu Wakabayashi: Donations from Takanori Kawai, a debut of holdings donated last year by a private collector and ardent fan of the late artist. These shows are at the museum's Hayama address, near Zushi Station an hour by train southwest of Tokyo. more...
Clumsy Genius? Yosa Buson at the Fuchu Art Museum
Alan Gleason
Among the Big Three haiku poets of Japan, Yosa Buson (1716-84) tends to lag in name recognition behind Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa. Basho is the undisputed top dog of the genre and author of the immortal travelogue Oku no hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Deep North), while Issa is the rustic, impoverished eccentric with the tragic life and mordant wit. Buson's verse may be just as brilliant as that of his rivals, but his backstory is not quite as compelling. However, he does have an extra claim to fame: before he began to win posthumous acclaim for his poetry, he was celebrated as a painter. A recent exhibition at the Fuchu Art Museum featured more than 100 of Buson's visual works, demonstrating just how remarkable a feat this multitasking was -- particularly as he came to painting somewhat later in life. more...
