Exhibition/event has ended.
Key Hiraga "Days of Wines and Roses -1960s-'90s-"
Fuma Contemporary Tokyo, Bunkyo Art
Finished
SHARE
Artists
Key Hiraga
Key Hiraga (b. 1936) went to Asakusa during his high school years to help a tattoo artist with his designs. Around this time, he started dessin to become a painter. He graduated from Rikkyo University in 1958 with a degree in economics.
He was selected for the 1st Asian Young Artists Exhibition in 1957, the 7th Shell Art Award (Present Idemitsu Art Award) in 1963 and awarded the grand prize at the 3rd National Young Artists Exhibition.
In 1965, William Lieberman, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, visited Hiraga's studio. At that time, Lieberman was struck by the quality of Hiraga's paintings and decided to include them in the groundbreaking exhibition “New Japanese Paintings and Sculpture,” which toured eight American museums from 1965 to 1967. He also purchased “Mado (Window)" (1964), a nearly monochrome work characteristic of his early career, for the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
At the time when “Mono-ha” in Japan was opposing to the idea of incorporating narrative into paintings, his work, with its composition and narrative reminiscent of the frame layout of a comic book, which was inspired by the dense windows of public apartment blocks and the Hitchcock film “Rear Window”, caused a stir in the art world at the time. In 1965, Hiraga went to Paris to study and set up his studio, where he was discovered by the critic Gassio Tarabo and exhibited with David Hockney and others in “La figuration narrative” exhibition (Paris, Prague, Lausanne, Lyon, Zurich) in 1966. Since then, he has had solo exhibitions at galleries throughout Europe, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Musee de la Ville de Paris, the Lund Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum, etc.
In the late 1960s, the lines gradually became more organized, the figurative images became clearer, and the series “The Elegant Life of Mr. H,” which seemed to depict human instinct unmasked by false pretenses with explosive and vivid colors. In 1969, he was selected to represent Japan at the 10th Sao Paulo Biennale.
He exhibited at the Réalité Nouvelle and Salon de Beaux Arts, and returned to Japan in 1974.
After returning to Japan, he gradually transformed his subject matter from the human drama of Pigalle, a Parisian pleasure quarter, to the Japanese motifs that he had been warming in his heart. A lover of haiku, tanka, Chinese poetry, calligraphy and rakugo, he has been called a “modern painter” for his skillful interweaving of traditional Japanese scenes while maintaining his unique sense of humor and esprit.
He has had eight solo exhibitions at Fuma Gallery since 1974, and has had 20 exhibitions at Bunkyo Art. Other exhibitions include the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, and the Yokosuka Museum of Art, Yokosuka, etc. In 2000, he saw a large-scale solo exhibition “The Fictional Avant-Garde Works of Key Hiraga Exhibition” (Hiratsuka Museum of Art), and in the same year he passed away at his home in Hakone.
In this exhibition, you will see the “Mado (Window)" from the same series in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as well as works from the Paris period to the later years of Hiraga's life. The exhibition will be the compilation of the gallery's collection of Hiraga works from the 1960s onwards. We look forward welcome your visit.
He was selected for the 1st Asian Young Artists Exhibition in 1957, the 7th Shell Art Award (Present Idemitsu Art Award) in 1963 and awarded the grand prize at the 3rd National Young Artists Exhibition.
In 1965, William Lieberman, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, visited Hiraga's studio. At that time, Lieberman was struck by the quality of Hiraga's paintings and decided to include them in the groundbreaking exhibition “New Japanese Paintings and Sculpture,” which toured eight American museums from 1965 to 1967. He also purchased “Mado (Window)" (1964), a nearly monochrome work characteristic of his early career, for the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
At the time when “Mono-ha” in Japan was opposing to the idea of incorporating narrative into paintings, his work, with its composition and narrative reminiscent of the frame layout of a comic book, which was inspired by the dense windows of public apartment blocks and the Hitchcock film “Rear Window”, caused a stir in the art world at the time. In 1965, Hiraga went to Paris to study and set up his studio, where he was discovered by the critic Gassio Tarabo and exhibited with David Hockney and others in “La figuration narrative” exhibition (Paris, Prague, Lausanne, Lyon, Zurich) in 1966. Since then, he has had solo exhibitions at galleries throughout Europe, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Musee de la Ville de Paris, the Lund Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum, etc.
In the late 1960s, the lines gradually became more organized, the figurative images became clearer, and the series “The Elegant Life of Mr. H,” which seemed to depict human instinct unmasked by false pretenses with explosive and vivid colors. In 1969, he was selected to represent Japan at the 10th Sao Paulo Biennale.
He exhibited at the Réalité Nouvelle and Salon de Beaux Arts, and returned to Japan in 1974.
After returning to Japan, he gradually transformed his subject matter from the human drama of Pigalle, a Parisian pleasure quarter, to the Japanese motifs that he had been warming in his heart. A lover of haiku, tanka, Chinese poetry, calligraphy and rakugo, he has been called a “modern painter” for his skillful interweaving of traditional Japanese scenes while maintaining his unique sense of humor and esprit.
He has had eight solo exhibitions at Fuma Gallery since 1974, and has had 20 exhibitions at Bunkyo Art. Other exhibitions include the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, the National Museum of Art, Osaka, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, the Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, and the Yokosuka Museum of Art, Yokosuka, etc. In 2000, he saw a large-scale solo exhibition “The Fictional Avant-Garde Works of Key Hiraga Exhibition” (Hiratsuka Museum of Art), and in the same year he passed away at his home in Hakone.
In this exhibition, you will see the “Mado (Window)" from the same series in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, as well as works from the Paris period to the later years of Hiraga's life. The exhibition will be the compilation of the gallery's collection of Hiraga works from the 1960s onwards. We look forward welcome your visit.
Schedule | Sep 17 (Tue) 2024-Sep 28 (Sat) 2024 Opening Hours Information
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://www.bunkyo-art.co.jp/press/Key%20Hiraga%20exhibition%202024.html | ||||
| Venue | Fuma Contemporary Tokyo, Bunkyo Art http://www.bunkyo-art.co.jp/ | ||||
| Location | 9F Magasaki Bldg., 1-3-9 Irifune, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0042 | ||||
| Access | 2 minute walk from exit A2 at Hatchobori Station on the Hibiya or JR Keiyo line, 4 minute walk from exit 7 at Shintomicho Station on the Yurakucho line. | ||||
| Phone | 03-6280-3717 | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
Back to Articles
SHARE
No comments yet