Shigeru Izumi "PAINTINGS 1971-93"

 
 


Yoshimi Arts
Wakasa Bldg. 3F,
1-8-24, Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka,
550-0002, Japan
TEL/FAX +81-6-6443-0080
E-MAIL info@yoshimiarts.com
URL http://www.yoshimiarts.com

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Shigeru Izumi "PAINTINGS 1971-93"

Feb 24 - Mar 26, 2017
Venue | Yoshimi Arts, the three konohana

Yoshimi Arts
11:00-19:00
Closed | Tue, Wed, and Mar 16 - 20
Bldg. 3F, 1-8-24, Edobori, Nishi-ku, Osaka
1 minute walk from exit 6 of Higobashi Station (Yotsubashi Line, Osaka Municipal Subway)
5 minutes walk from exit 12 of Yodoyabashi Station (Midousuji Line, Osaka Municipal Subway)

the three konohana
12:00-19:00
Closed | Mon, Tue, and Wed
1-23-23-2F, Baika, Konohana-ku, Osaka
3 minutes walk from Chidoribashi Station (Namba Line, Hanshin Electric Railway)
9 minutes walk from Nishikujo Station (Namba Line, Hanshi Electric Railway/Loop Line, JR)

the three konohana website (Japanese) | http://thethree.net


Yoshimi Arts and the three konohana will host a joint exhibition of Shigeru Izumi (1922-1995), a distinguished artist who represents the contemporary art world in the Kansai region of Japan in the latter half of the 20th century.

Born in Osaka, Izumi had started his career as a painter. Right after the war in 1951, he set up the avant-garde art group “Democratic Artists Association” together with Ei-Q and other artists, and energetically promoted activities as its leading member. It is around this time when he began to work on engravings. He received the Newcomer’s Award at the 1st International Biennial Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo, emerging head and shoulders as an artist in Japan. From 1959, he spent about a decade in New York and Paris, and built up his own style of expression, strongly influenced by the western art scene of the time. After returning to Japan, he continued his creative activities until his later years focused on his painting and engraving techniques. He was also appointed as a professor at the Osaka University of Arts and had nurtured and produced many artists since then, significantly contributing to the maturation of the contemporary art scene in the Kansai region in the latter half of the 20th century.

In this exhibition we focus on and introduce his paintings. The works produced in the 1970’s right after returning to Japan after his time in New York and Paris will be exhibited in Yoshimi Arts, and the works from the 1980’s until his late years will be exhibited in the three konohana. His remaining works mainly consist of print works, and many other past exhibitions held in other museums and galleries around the country were more likely to explore his engravings as the focus of the exhibitions. This time we look at Izumi’s paintings, that had been the source of his creation and the foundation of his expression, in order to delve into the root of his artistic expression.

During the exhibition, a large-scale retrospective exhibition of Izumi, entitled, “Handsome Heart, Handsome Art: The World of Izumi Shigeru” will be held at the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama (January 27th - March 26th). Furthermore, we will invite the curator Ms. Hisami Ueno, who organized the retrospective, to hold talks at the three konohana on March 4th.

It seems that current Japanese contemporary art is at a transitional stage due to the fluid social changes and media diversity employed for art works. At the same time, there is an increasing momentum to connect the two centuries in the historical context by reconsidering and re-evaluating contemporary art in the latter half of the 20th century.  As a proponent to bridge the eras of the Kansai art scene, it is our greatest pleasure to present this exhibition as an opportunity to uncover the essence from Izumi’s works that relates to contemporary artistic expressions. We look forward to your visit.

*image | 《JF10035》 1971 oil, canvas  130.3×162.0cm 【exhibited in Yoshimi Arts】

■Related Event
Talk "Handsome Heart, Handsome Art: The World of Izumi Shigeru"
Date|Mar 4 (sat), 15:00-16:30
Venue|the three konohana
Appearance|Hisami Ueno (curator of The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama)
Japanese talk, Free, No reservation is needed

 


《title is unkonwn》 1975 oil, canvas  162.0 x 130.3 cm 【exhibited in Yoshimi Arts】


《recessed oval》 1981 oil, canvas  162.0 x 130.3 cm  【exhibited in the three konohana】


《cloud-shape》 1993 acrylic paint, canvas  162.0 x 260.6 cm  【exhibited in the three konohana】


Shigeru Izumi
1922 Born in Osaka City.
1939 Graduated from Craft and Design Course, Osaka City Kogei School
1951 Established "Democratic Artists Association" (~'57)
1959 Vsited to America and became a guest professor of the print factory "Pratt Institute" in New
  York (~'62)
1963 Immigrated to Paris (~'68)
1970 Became a professor at Fine Arts Department, Osaka University of Arts (~'92)
1995 DIed.
 
Exhibitions (lifetime)
1957 "The 1st Tokyo Internatilnal Print Biennale"(Won the Newcomer's Award)
  "The 4th Bienal Internacional de Artes de São Paulo" (Brazil)
1965 "The Japanese New Painting and Sculpture" (circulated eight museums In the U.S.A. including
  The Museum of Modern Art, New York) (~'67)
1975 "Art Now’75」 (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art)
1978 "Series 'Today's Artist', Shigeru Izumi -after 1963-" (Osaka Prefectural Gallery)
1980 "Shigeru Izumi Solo Exhibition" (Ban Gallery/Osaka) (※'81, '84, '87, '92, '93, '94)
1983 "Kansai Artists Series 1, Waichi Tsutaka・Shigeru Izumi・Hideo Yoshihara (The Museum of
 

Modern Art, Wakayama)

1986 "Ei-Q and the surroundings"」 (circulated three museums including The Museum of Modern
  Art, Saitama)
1993 "Sadajiro Kubo and artists - postwar, early prints" (Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts
  /Tokyo)
1994

"Kansai Art 1950's~1970's」 (Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art )

 
Exhibitions (retrospective)
1996 "Shigeru Izumi" (Itami City Museum of Art/Hyogo)
1998 "Shigeru Izumi-Early prints" (The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama)
1999 「DEMOKRATO 1951 ~ 1957 -The Liberation of Art in Pstwar Japan―」 (circulated three
  museums including The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama)
2005 "IZUMI Shigeru: a retrospective" ( The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama)
2006 "Photographs of Shigeru Izumi" (The Museum of Modern Art, Shiga)
2012 "Shigeru Izumi Special Exhibition" (Sakai City Cultural Hall Gallery/Osaka)
2015 "Prints Taravelogue of Shigeru Izumi on the 20th anniversary of his death" (BB Plaza Museum
  of Art/Hyogo)
2016 "Prints of Shigeru Izumi"(The Tokushima Modern Art Museum)
2017 "Handsome Heart, Handsome Art: The World of Izumi Shigeru" (The Museum of Modern Art,
  Wakayama)
*including the titles traslated by us
 
Public Collection
The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama; The National Museum of Art, Osaka; Itami City Museum of Art;
Osaka City Museum of Modern Art; Osaka Prefecture; Sakai City; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art;
The Tokushima Modern Art Museum; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo;
The Museu of Modern Art, Saitama; Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum;
Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts