Weekly Special Collection: Shinjiro OKAMOTO and Toshinobu ONOSATO

Nov. 27 Tue.― Dec. 8 Sat. 2018, 2018 11:00-19:00
Gallery closed on Sun. and Mon.

Japanese avant-garde art is often said to lack humor, yet among the forefront of Japan's pop art were Okamoto Shinjiro and his humorous, nihilistic works.

Okamoto was born in 1933; after graduating high school he studied watercolor independently and participated in exhibitions such as the Nihon Suisai Exhibition and Niki Exhibition. In 1956 he held his first solo exhibition at Muramatsu Garo, and in the same year established Sosaku Kaigi with Yoshida Yoshie. It was around this time that he encountered the neoimpressionist works of Seurat and acquired a vision that equalized the silhouettes of people, objects, and even the own self; he began creating works that expressed the pathology of the modern day with simple shapes and bright colors. He participated in the Yomiuri Independent Show in 1956. In 1942 and 1963 he was awarded Honorable Mention at the Shell Art Award Show; he gathered attention after receiving Grand Prize at the first Nagaoka Musem of Modern Art Show in 1964 and developed a style with a tight, clear composition of colors. Okamoto's expressed his voice in his works with comments on society wrapped inside humor, making series including those based on his own experience of war and on events such as 9.11.

Until now we have not introduced many works by Okamoto Shinjiro, but Onosato Toshinobu is one of Toki no Wasuremono's main artists and we have a large collection of his watercolor, oil, and hanga works. As the anniversary of his death (30 Nov. 1986) approaches, we will present some of his works for the first time in a while.