Takahashi Collection Hibiya
Closes Nov. 28
Since Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), a leader of the yoga (Western-style painting) movement, introduced self-portraiture as a graduation project at the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts, it has become one of the school's ongoing traditions and a respected art form in Japan. To celebrate the importance of self-representation, the Takahashi Collection Hibiya, which closes this December, is showing "Self Portrait: Others as Myself" as one of its final exhibitions. For two years, the gallery has been showing works from the collection of Ryutaro Takahashi, a psychiatrist and art lover who is largely responsible for coining the art term "Neoteny Japan." His selection of self-portraits consists of mostly paintings, but it also includes sculptures and installations, each revealing the artists' inner psyches — sometimes in abstract ways.