Exhibition ‘Yakudō suru tamashii no kirameki: Nihon no hyōgen shugi’ Opened

On April 26, the exhibition titled ‘Yakudō guru tamasii no kirameki: Nihon no hyōgen shugi (Expressionist Movements in Japan)’ opened at the Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (until June 15). Featuring works from the 1910s to 1930s, including nihonga painting, yōga painting, crafts, architecture and the performing arts, the exhibition sought to examine works of art made in Japan from the latter half of Meiji period onwards not as a transplantation of Western concept but as a development rooted in Japan’s vernacular logic, and to trace its history using ‘Expressionism’ as a key concept. It consisted of five chapters: Prologue ‘Yochō (Premonitions)’; Chapter 1 ‘Hyōgen I – Seimei shugi (Expression I – Vitalism)’; Chapter 2 ‘Hyōgen II – Eikyō to koō (Expression II – Influences and Resonances)’; Chapter 3 ‘Hyōgen III – Seikatsu to zōkei (Expression III – Life and Art)’; and Epilogue. The exhibition subsequently toured to the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art (June 23 – August 16), the Nagoya City Art Museum (August 25 – October 12), the Iwate Museum of Art (October 20 – November 29) and the Matsudo Museum (December 8 – January 24, 2010). (Japanese)