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Picks is a monthly sampling of Japan's art scene, offering commentary by a variety of reviewers about exhibitions at museums and galleries in recent weeks, with an emphasis on contemporary art by young artists. |
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15 January 2018 |
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Hokusai and Japonisme |
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21 October 2017 - 28 January 2018
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The National Museum of Western Art
(Tokyo) |
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Since the 1988 Japonisme exhibition held at this same museum, a number of shows have examined the phenomenon and the boom it enjoyed in late 19th-century Europe. There were several stages to Japonisme: initially European artists simply painted pictures of Japanese art and crafts. Subsequently, however, the Impressionists began studying the colors and compositions of ukiyo-e, incorporating elements of Japanese art into their own. That makes it hard to identify specific influences, but this show makes it clear that Hokusai, for one, had a formidable impact on modern Western art. |
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| Wild: Untamed Mind |
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20 October 2017 - 4 February 2018
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21_21 Design Sight
(Tokyo) |
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| "The untamed is elegant": such is the bold premise for this show, which challenges viewers to consider what it means to be "wild" or "untamed" (yasei). With philosopher, anthropologist and religious scholar Shinichi Nakazawa at the helm, the exhibition scrutinizes "wildness" through the eyes of Kumagusu Minakata, a naturalist whose quest for the untamed essence of things took him to the United States and England during the Meiji era (1868-1912). |
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| 90 Years of Kinderbook: The world of children traced through pictures and songs |
| 21 October 2017 - 14 January 2018 |
Printing Museum, Tokyo
(Tokyo) |
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| Kinderbook is a series of childcare-oriented picture books that has been published monthly since 1927 by Tokyo-based Froebel-Kan. This 90th-anniversary retrospective features both published volumes and original artwork, with a special focus on the printing of illustrated magazines. Adviser and editor Takeo Takei was well versed in printing technology and experimented with such techniques as color-separated illustrations to achieve the desired results. |
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| Yuriko Iyanaga solo exhibition: images / or paintings |
| 24 - 29 October 2017 |
Kunst Arzt
(Kyoto) |
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| The works shown here were all created with computer paint tools. What distinguishes them is that each includes not only the finished version (a still image) but also moving images showing the painting process, revisions and the like. What's more, the finished pictures are sometimes overwritten and new compositions begun. In short, these are paintings with no clear-cut beginning or end -- an innovative concept indeed.
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| Eikoh Hosoe - "Genesis: Portraits of Artists in their Formative Years" |
| 28 October - 18 November 2017 |
YOD Gallery
(Osaka) |
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| A solo exhibition of works selected from the revered photographer's titular collection, published in 2012. The book consisted of portraits taken between 1967 and 1975 of young artists then active on Japan's cultural scene: Tatsumi Hijikata, Shuji Terayama, Tadanori Yokoo, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Yayoi Kusama, and Taro Okamoto among others. This was one show guaranteed to please photography fans everywhere.
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