Kikuhata Shigekuma (1935-2020) was a leading member of the Fukuoka-based avant-garde art group "Kyushu-ha" and a standard-bearer of the anti-art movement. On the 5th anniversary of his death, we will look back on his painting works in our collection, which left a significant mark on the postwar art scene in Japan.
Kikuhata was born in Nagasaki City and moved to Fukuoka City in his childhood. In 1957, he joined the avant-garde art group "Kyushu-ha," and in the 1960s, his "Roulette" series drew much attention both in Japan and abroad, making him the darling of the age as a contemporary artist. However, in the late 1960s, he stopped exhibiting his works and distanced himself from the art world. He studied war documentary paintings and coal mine documentary paintings by Sakubei Yamamoto, and published many essays on the subject. He then resumed painting, and in 1983, he released the "Heavenly Motion" series. Since then, he has been producing a series of large oil paintings one after another, attracting attention once again.
The exhibition also introduces works by artists who participated in avant-garde art groups such as the Gutai Art Association and the Experimental Studio, who were active in Japan during the same period, as well as art trends that developed in the postwar period. The exhibition also features masterpieces of Western painting by Renoir, Rouault, and others.