Setsu Asakura: A Centennial Retrospective （Nerima Art Museum）

Setsu Asakura: A Centennial Retrospective

Nerima Art Museum

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Artists

Setsu Asakura

This exhibition presents a complete picture of Setsu Asakura (1922-2014), a painter and stage designer. Born in Yanaka, Tokyo, the eldest daughter of sculptor Fumio Asakura (1883-1964), Setsu Asakura began her career as a Japanese-style painter at the age of 17, studying under Ito Shinsui.

After the war, she studied at Sousei Bijutsu (Creative Art) and then at the Japanese Painting Department of the Shinseisaku Kyokai (New Creation Society), where he developed a cubist style. In addition to her concern for the state of Japanese-style painting, her vision also expanded to include social issues. However, the sense of frustration caused by the US-Japan security treaty of the 1960s seems to have been one of the factors that drove Asakura away from painting. Asakura subsequently found new possibilities in the world of stage design.

During her lifetime, works from the artist's period as a painter were rarely shown to the public due to the artist's wishes. After the artist's death, many of the works left in her studio were donated to museums around the country, revealing Asakura's footprints that connect the prewar, wartime, and postwar periods. This exhibition introduces Asakura's creative activities through approximately 200 works, including paintings, drafts for representative stage designs, illustrations, and original drawings for picture books.