ABSTRACTION: The Genesis and Evolution of Abstract Painting Cézanne, Fauvism, Cubism and on to Today

Special Site

From the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War I, France enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. The lively, free spirit of that Belle Époque spurred artistic creativity. Fauvism, Cubism, and other new art forms blossomed, and those developments led to the birth of abstract painting, one outcome of stylistic evolution in painting. The subsequent evolution of Abstraction drove artistic expression in the twentieth-century art world in a dynamic wave that reached Japan during the same period.
This exhibition starts with Impressionism and continues through the revolutionary movements in painting at the start of the twentieth century and the birth of abstract painting. It then traces the development of Abstraction through two World Wars and beyond, up to the 1960s, showcasing movements in Europe, primarily in France, and in America and Japan.
The exhibits include about 150 works from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection, 95 of which are recent acquisitions. * They also include around 100 works on loan from private collections and museums both inside and outside Japan. The approximately 250 works on display will fill all of the Artizon Museum’s galleries.

*Recent acquisitions are works added to the collection since 2015, when the Artizon Museum’s predecessor, the Bridgestone Museum of Art, was closed for renovation.

Composition of the Exhibition
*The main artists whose work is on display include those named in parentheses.

1．Origins of Abstract Art

(Paul CÉZANNE, Édouard MANET, Vincent VAN GOGH, Paul GAUGUIN, Odilon REDON, Claude MONET)

２．Fauvism and Cubism

(Henri MATISSE, André DERAIN, Maurice de VLAMINCK, Raoul DUFY, Pablo PICASSO, Georges BRAQUE, Jean METZINGER, Fernand LÉGER)

３．Genesis of Abstract Painting: Orphism, Futurism, Der Blaue Reiter, Bauhaus, De Stijl and Abstraction-Création

(Robert DELAUNAY, František KUPKA, LE CORBUSIER, Wassily KANDINSKY, Paul KLEE, Piet MONDRIAN, Constantin BRANCUSI, Georgia O'KEEFFE)

４．Roots and Branches of Abstract Painting in Japan

(ONCHI Koshiro, YOROZU Tetsugoro, KOGA Harue, HASEGAWA Saburo, OKAMOTO Taro)

５．Hot Abstraction and Lyrical Abstraction

(Wols 〈Alfred Otto Wolfgang SCHULZE〉, Jean FAUTRIER, Georges MATHIEU, Maurice ESTÈVE, Maria-Helena VIEIRA DA SILVA, Hans HARTUNG, Pierre SOULAGES, ZAO Wou-Ki, DOMOTO Hisao, SUGAI Kumi)

６．Trans-Atlantic: Pierre Matisse and His Surroundings

(Jean DUBUFFET, Joan MIRÓ, Marcel DUCHAMP)

７．Abstract Expressionism

(Arshile GORKY, Hans HOFMANN, Willem DE KOONING, Jackson POLLOCK, Mark ROTHKO, Sam FRANCIS, Ad REINHARDT, Adolph GOTTLIEB, Elaine DE KOONING, Helen FRANKENTHALER, Lee KRASNER, Joan MITCHELL, Isamu NOGUCHI)

８．Evolution of Postwar Japanese Abstract Painting (to the 1960s)

(YAMAGUCHI Takeo, ONOSATO Toshinobu, KUSAMA Yayoi, KATSURA Yuki、SAITO Yoshishige, KAWABATA Minoru, SUGIMATA Tadashi, INOKUMA Gen'ichiro, OKADA Kenzo, EI-KYU)

９．Gutai

(YOSHIHARA Jiro, SHIRAGA Kazuo, TANAKA Atsuko, KANAYAMA Akira、MURAKAMI Saburo, MOTONAGA Sadamasa, MASANOBU Masatoshi)

10．Takiguchi Shuzo and Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop)

(TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, YAMAGUCHI Katsuhiro, FUKUSHIMA Hideko, KITADAI Shozo)

11．Future Paths of Postwar Abstractions: Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, and Zao Wou-Ki

(Hans HARTUNG, Pierre SOULAGES, ZAO Wou-Ki)

12．Contemporary Artists: Rita Ackermann, Anne Kagioka Rigoulet, Lou Zhenggang, Tsugami Miyuki, Shibata Toshio, Takabatake Yoriko, and Yokomizo Miyuki

(Rita ACKERMANN, Anne KAGIOKA RIGOULET, LOU Zhenggang, TSUGAMI Miyuki, SHIBATA Toshio, TAKABATAKE Yoriko, YOKOMIZO Miyuki)

*Online tickets must be purchased up to 10 minutes before the end of each time slot.
*Booking is not accepted when a time slot is full.
*In-Person ticket may be purchased at the museum, if the time slot is not full.