'A Feverish Era: Art Informel and the Expansion of Japanese Artistic Expression in the 1950s and '60s'

July 29-Sept. 11

The year of 1956 is often referred to as the end of the postwar era in Japan. It was also the year that Parisian art critic and collector Michel Tapie brought an influential collection of Western "art informel" abstract art to Japan.

The National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto is hosting a special exhibition of a wide range of Japanese abstract paintings and sculptures that follow what Tapie promoted: gestural styles that broke with artistic tradition. Around 100 works are being featured, including both Western-style and Japanese-style paintings, ceramics and even art-informel-influenced ikebana.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. Higashiyama Stn. 9:30 a.m. -5 p.m. (Fri. till 8 p.m.). ¥900. Closed Mon. 075-761-4111; www.momak.go.jp/English