Art Jun 18, 2020

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Spiritual recultivation in apocalyptic times

The inaugural exhibition of the newly minted Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art highlights the career of acclaimed photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Art Mar 9, 2020

A sea change for Japanese sculptors

"Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2020" in Western Australia, brings together eight Japanese sculptural works, including Harayuki Uchida's new 2.5-ton stainless-steel kinetic "Merry Gate."

Art Feb 26, 2020

Bamboo crafts: Woven into Japan's art history

The Abbey Collection takes viewers through a modern history of bamboo crafting, from its late recognition as fine art in the 19th century to the elaborate artistic creations of today.

Art Feb 12, 2020

Japan's postwar aesthetics: compelling if not confusing

The NMAO attempts the difficult task of discerning the "underlying presence of Japanese aesthetics in postwar art.

Art Jan 25, 2020

'Impossible Architecture': Consider the impossible — find the visionaries

From Vladimir Tatlin's "Monument to the Third International" (1920) to Zaha Hadid's plan for the New National Stadium of Japan, "Impossible Architecture: The Architects' Dreams" eulogizes aborted artistic conceptions — some that technically would have been possible, others purposely preposterous.

Art Jan 15, 2020

Nino Caruso's monumental contribution

More than 100 pieces, documents and designs have been selected for the Nino Caruso exhibition "Forms of Memory and Space — the world's first retrospective of the Italian ceramist-cum-sculptor's work since his death in 2017.

Art Jan 2, 2020

Art from the silver lining of life's dark clouds

Threatening the precarious peace of everyday life are unforeseen incidents, disease and emotional turbulence. Such are the narrative threads running through "Song to Life, Struggles of the Soul" at Wacoal Studyhall Kyoto.

Art Dec 4, 2019

Nakamura Hochu: The Osakan Rinpa pioneer

The Rinpa school of painting's initial phase was formed by the superlative talents of Honami Koetsu (1558-1637) and Tawaraya Sotatsu (c. 1570-c. 1630) in late 16th-century Kyoto. The aesthetics resonated with the grand and powerful ornamental inclinations of the Momoyama Period (1573-1603) — gold ...

Art / Events Nov 27, 2019

Ryonosuke Shimomura: An eclectic rule breaker

At school, Ryonosuke Shimomura conceived art techniques that led one teacher to think he was color blind. Yet his unusual approach led him to become a principal of the Pan Real Art Association — Japan's influential avant-garde Japanese-style painting groups.

Art Nov 13, 2019

Maruyama Okyo's legacy of drawing from life

In his 1808 book, "Chronicle of Audacity and Timidity" ("Tandai Shoshinroku"), scholar and poet Ueda Akinari satirized, "When Okyo came on the scene, sketching from life (shasei) became popular, and all the paintings in Kyoto began being done by the same method!" The realist impulse ...