artKYOTO 2019

We are delighted to announce that NUKAGA GALLERY will be participating in artKYOTO 2019, the very first event of a new-found art fair series.

In this fair, we will be exhibiting works by the masters of modern art, who were critical in the development of the history of modern art, such as a watercolor painting by Vincent van Gogh, drawings by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, additionally, about a dozen of Picasso’s ceramics, and oil paintings by Tsuguharu Foujita.

Gogh’s watercolor painting from 1881 is based on a motif of a person sowing seeds, a motif which appears repeatedly in his works throughout his career. Gogh, who became aware of his “artistic mission” upon reading the biography titled “La vie et l’oeuvre de J.F. Millet” written by Alfred Sensier, and also through a diligent life similar to a peasant’s, set his greatest challenge as a painter to reproduce portraits and characters from Millet’s later years, with his own unique coloring. This particular painting is a valuable piece which can be said to mark the beginning of Gogh’s career as a painter.

Other exhibits include beautiful drawings by Matisse, which is boldly simplified as if a design, and also by Picasso, which in contrast, depicts human inner emotions with passionate lines and composition. Also by Picasso are his ceramics, which he had engaged in his later years. Picasso’s colorful ceramics don motifs of animals born from his rich imagination and playfulness. Then there are portraits by Foujita, blowing life into the motif with delicate outlines drawn on an exquisite white base. These creative artworks by innovative artists have all stood the test of time and seem to display even richer creativity today.

We would like to welcome everyone to take this opportunity to see and experience these masterpieces of art.