Fields of Memory

NUKAGA GALLERY is pleased to present Fields of Memory, an exhibition focusing on the theme of landscape, from Wednesday, June 25 to Thursday, July 31. Covering a period of roughly one hundred years spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries during which painting underwent radical transformation, the exhibition explores how artists depicted the landscapes of France, the hub of modern art during these years, and particularly the “capital of art” Paris. While all the featured works have French or Parisian scenery as their subject, the variety of periods and styles represented reveals the extent of radical change and the richness of invention within the landscape genre.

As the title Fields of Memory suggests, this show not only traces the stylistic evolution of landscape painting but also illuminates the history and memory embedded in the works. Amid the tumult before and after the turn of the century, depictions of French and Parisian landscapes served as both factual records by painters and photographers and surfaces onto which they projected their contemporary sensibilities and inner visions. The pastoral scenery and suburban groves painted by Corot and Courbet, the sunlight and mist captured by Monet, Utrillo’s tranquil alleys and Yuzo Saeki’s weather-beaten street corners, the deserted early morning cafés in Eugène Atget’s photographs—all of these connect to viewers today as “fields of memory” from their respective eras. Through the fragments of visual memory imbued in each work, visitors can sense both the history of Paris and the French landscape, and the rhythms of everyday life once lived there. This exhibition offers an opportunity to experience the depth of French art as seen through its diverse approaches to landscape, as well as the changing role of painting in response to the evolution of photographic technology.