The Esoteric Influence of Taro Okamoto
Alien named PAIRA, 1956 Visiting the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art is always a fascinating experience. Located in Kawasaki's heavily...
Leonor Fini: Consciously Painting the Subconscious
Between the Two, 1967 One of my favorite paintings is one by a trained elephant that I picked up on holiday in Thailand daubed by a ...
Jackson Pollock: The First Major Japan Exhibition
Despite his art superstar status, Jackson Pollock's avant-gardism has proved a stumbling block in Japan. Surprisingly, "Jackson...
Takanori Oguiss: the Japanese Utrillo
When I first saw the oil paintings of Paris by the Japanese artist, Takanori Oguiss (1901-1986), I was strangely reminded of the neutron...
Shinsui Ito: An Eye for the Ladies
Yubi 1922 Shinsui Ito (1898-1972) was a central figure during Japan's artistic identity crisis in the 20th century. As wave after...
The Bewitching Art of Fuyuko Matsui
Photo: C.B.Liddell There's something bewitching about Fuyuko Matsui. I mean that in both senses of the word. Yes, she's rathe...
Belgium's Bicultural Heart of Darkness
Ghent, Evening (1903) by Albert Baertsoen Looking at the Tokyo listings, I see that there are a couple of exhibitions focusing on bygo...
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George Segal: Standing Out from the Crowd
Art does not exist in a neat little bubble. Contemporary events, like the devastating terrorist attack on America, effect the way we ...
Greek Sculpture: The Naked and the Divine
How many of the artworks being made today will stand the test of time and still be appreciated more than 2,000 years in the future — as...
Hubert Robert: The Power of the Past
Modernity is characterized by a linear concept of time, with the past cast in the role of an ever-diminishing point on the horizon behi...
Harue Koga: The Art of Assimilating Western Styles
Fireworks The curse of early Western-style Japanese painters is the charge of derivativeness. Simply because they embraced foreign art...
Undressing the Myth Behind Goya
What courage! On first appraisal, it might seem that the organizers have brought the wrong Maja to Japan for the exhibition "Go...
Rules are Made to be Broken: Gervex, Renoir, Cezanne & Picasso
Woman Seated in an Armchair, 1923 Nowadays an artist has complete freedom to paint, carve, construct, install, or simply do whateve...
Isamu Noguchi: To Touch the Earth
The Law of Unintended Consequences interferes with the way the World is supposed to be, but it can also throw a spanner in the works of ...
American Impressionists: Following Monet to the Country
Self Portait (1896), F.W. MacMonnies The charm of Impressionism was that it allowed a great deal of artistic freedom and expressivenes...
Vermeer and the Delft Style
Something "New" From the 17th Century Because of the tight loop of Japan's media and information sources, audiences her...
Ryusei Kishida: Innovation and Exploration
Kishida’s short but brilliant career When Japan opened up to the West after the Meiji Revolution, it had a lot of catching up to d...
Czartoryski Collection: East Meets West, with Leonardo in a starring role
When it comes to artistic reputations, nobody except perhaps Michelangelo ranks quite as high in the pantheon of art as Leonardo da Vinci. ...
Crossing the Line: The Vienna Secession
Fatalism (1893) by Jan Toorop Our idea of the fin de siècle avant-garde artist is of an impoverished outcast, ignored by the est...
Merzbacher Collection: Unleashing the Power of Colour
The Beak of the Eagle, La Ciotat (1907) The keynote of the exhibition at the Yasuda Kasai Museum [ ＊now renamed the Sompo Japan Muse...
Ikuo Hirayama: Seeking Solace on the Silk Road
Mount Sumeru of the Western Pure Land (2000) Ikuo Hirayama clearly represents how the Japanese like to see — and project — the...
Drawing: Graffiti Sky
While tidying up and throwing away unnecessary things, I came across a catalogue by the photographic artist Rika Noguchi, whose exhib...
Chronicle of Showa Era Erotic Gegika
Artwork by Tsutsumi Tsutsumu Back in the 1970s, Japan had something of a porn boom. Strict censorship meant that things like full fro...
Paul Klee: A Traveler Possessed by Light
Southern Coast in the Evening, 1925 Part of the game of art nowadays is for artists, whatever their influences and orientation, to avo...
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Blog for art's sake...
"Most people in America think Art is a man's name." ― Andy Warhol
The official blog of world-renowned art journalist Colin Liddell
