Paul Delvaux: the Stuff that Dreams are Made of

Paul Delvaux: the Stuff that Dreams are Made of

Aurora, 1964 Once you see the paintings of Paul Delvaux you are unlikely to forget them. The dreamlike mood and quaint atmosphere is ...
Modigliani & Hebuterne

Modigliani & Hebuterne

Modigliani and Jeanne Hebuterne were the Pete Doherty and Kate Moss of their generation. Just like the former Babyshambles singer, Mod...
Revamped MoMAT Opens with Unfinished Business

Revamped MoMAT Opens with Unfinished Business

The Tale of Akebono Village (1953) As the first exhibition since its renovation, the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT) has arranged...
The Mindscapes of De Chirico

The Mindscapes of De Chirico

Two Horses by a Lake With an exhibition including the work of Rene Magritte and Paul Delvaux coming to the Isetan next month and the c...
Heritage of the Roman Empire

Heritage of the Roman Empire

The NMWA asks, 'What did the Romans ever do for us?' Anyone who’s ever seen the Monty Python movie Life of Brian will rem...
The Spiritual Displacement of Kumi Machida

The Spiritual Displacement of Kumi Machida

Relation, 2006 An exhibition of art by Kumi Machida will leave your head full of odd impressions and ideas that don’t quite fit tog...
Breaking the Da Vinci Code of Italian Inventiveness

Breaking the Da Vinci Code of Italian Inventiveness

This year, thanks to the cultural promotion campaign "Italy in Japan 2001," we have had ample opportunity to admire Ital...
Preview: Perugino

Preview: Perugino

While Leonardo da Vinci was busy inventing absurd machines, scribbling cryptic doodles in his notebooks, and neglecting his enormous gi...
Ai Weiwei: Drab Minimalism and Toothless Iconoclasm

Ai Weiwei: Drab Minimalism and Toothless Iconoclasm

Forever, Bicycles , 2003 The term "art," if it does anything at all, should greatly raise expectations. Going to see it, we ...
The Strangely Beautiful Art of Chen Man

The Strangely Beautiful Art of Chen Man

"Red Lotus" (detail) Echoing the pan-Asian theme of this year’s Art Fair Tokyo, which was held earlier this month, Shibuya’...
Rouault: Shadows in the Sawdust

Rouault: Shadows in the Sawdust

Pierrot Aristocrate, 1941-2 Paris in its heyday — between one set of Germans marching in (1871) and another (1940) — is one of those f...
Collection: "My Dream, I Was Just Raped" by Monoko Hanasaki

Collection: "My Dream, I Was Just Raped" by Monoko Hanasaki

The best opportunity to buy good value art in Japan is at Design Festa, a vast art fair that takes place several times a year, usuall...
Henry Darger: Outsider Inside His Own World

Henry Darger: Outsider Inside His Own World

Outsider artists often present a pathetic spectacle to the rest of the world: forgotten inmates of mental institutions, shuffling, mutt...
Giacometti and Yanaihara

Giacometti and Yanaihara

A special friendship. Alberto Giacometti (1901 – 1966) is widely considered the greatest sculptor of the 20th century. Originally att...
Treasures by Rinpa Masters

Treasures by Rinpa Masters

Wind God by Ogata Korin Korin and Co. show another dimension of traditional Japanese art When it comes to appreciating traditio...
Drawing: "Dr. Drankenstein"

Drawing: "Dr. Drankenstein"

One of my charcoal sketches that I did during the Xmas/ New Year break of 2012/13. The theme is a rather obvious vampire, with his cas...
A Michelangelo Appetizer

A Michelangelo Appetizer

Cleopatra This has been quite a year for fans of Renaissance art in Japan, with all three of its giants — Leonardo da Vinci, Raph...
Rembrandt: A Subtle Artist Who Glows in the Dark

Rembrandt: A Subtle Artist Who Glows in the Dark

Minerva in Her Study, 1635 Recently, thanks to the power cuts caused by the damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactors, many of us ha...
Hisashi Tenmyouya: Samurai with a Paintbrush

Hisashi Tenmyouya: Samurai with a Paintbrush

Para-para (Great Empire of Japan) vs. Break-dancing (America)  (2001) One of the strangest and most interesting characteristics of ...
Chardin: Stooping to Conquer

Chardin: Stooping to Conquer

Saying Grace The Mitsubichi Ichigokan Museum is deceptive in more ways than one. Not only is it a lot younger than it looks – it was ...
KEN YABUNO: EUROPA RE-REMEMBERED

KEN YABUNO: EUROPA RE-REMEMBERED

Everything Appears If You Stand Still  (2005) The Fascist dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco may not have been everybody's c...
Hisashi Tenmyouya: Neo-Nihonga Retro-Yakuza Pastiche

Hisashi Tenmyouya: Neo-Nihonga Retro-Yakuza Pastiche

Good artists, like good DJs, know what to throw together to get something fresh going. This is especially true of Neo-Nihonga artists l...
The Balanced Eroticism of Titian's Venus

The Balanced Eroticism of Titian's Venus

In a modern era, in which recreational sex, low birthrates, fractured relationships, and sexual commodification are commonplace, the so...
Nishiki–e Outshine Chinese Prints

Nishiki–e Outshine Chinese Prints

"Plum Garden at Kameido" by Hiroshige Utagawa "The Birth of Nishiki–e," the current exhibition at the Ota Memoria...
El Greco: My Big, Skinny Greek Painting

El Greco: My Big, Skinny Greek Painting

The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception Tokyo seems crowded with Old Masters these days. Rubens is at the Bunkamura; Raphael is at th...
Vincent van Gogh: Mad Artist Myth No Longer Holds

Vincent van Gogh: Mad Artist Myth No Longer Holds

The Sower  (1888) When you say the name Vincent van Gogh, you invariably invoke a legend, the legend of a wild, purely creative genius...

Ceramic Artists