Exhibition

WAKABAYASHI Isamu: 20 years after his death

2023.10.21-2023.12.24

2023.10.21-2023.12.24

コレクション 歿後20年 若林奮

コレクション 歿後20年 若林奮

WAKABAYASHI Isamu, Grand Landscape (4th Stage) , 1964, 91, Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, ©WAKABASHI STUDIO
WAKABAYASHI Isamu, One Hundred Envious Views I, 1967, 71, Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, ©WAKABASHI STUDIO
WAKABAYASHI Isamu, One Hundred Raindrops I, 1976, Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, ©WAKABASHI STUDIO
WAKABAYASHI Isamu, Oscillating Scale of Submergence, 2002, Collection of Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, ©WAKABASHI STUDIO

Wakabayashi Isamu (1936-2003) is a sculptor who left a significant mark on post-war Japanese art with works based on his unique perspective and elaborate observation of nature. After graduating from the Department of Sculpture at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1959, he held many solo exhibitions at museums. While teaching at Musashino Art University and Tama Art University, he devoted himself to teaching younger artists. However, in 2003, he sadly passed away at the age of 67.

Wakabayashi’s works are taciturn and do not speak much. With ascetic forms that have been stripped of decorative elements and surfaces filled with a sense of tension made from materials such as iron and sulfur, his works are filled with a delicate poetic sentiment and profound thoughts born from deep contemplation. It result from the fundamental question of how sculpture can be. It can also be said to be the product of the artist’s own concrete and private inquiry, which seeks to perceive nature and things there based on his own senses.

The Toyota Municipal Museum of Art has endeavored to collect Wakabayashi’s work in order to provide a comprehensive view of his work. In 2002, the year before he passed away, the museum also held a major retrospective. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Wakabayashi’s death. On this occasion, about 20 sculptures and about 100 drawings and prints from the museum’s collection will be exhibited together, and visitors will be able to come face-to-face with the works and come into contact with the thoughts of this rare artist.

Opening hours 10:00-17:30 (Admission is until 17:00)
Closed = Mondays (except national holidays)

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