Yozo Hamaguchi came into sudden prominence in the art world of Paris in the 1950s
and attracted people with his new style. Filled with clear colors and faint light, his
copper-plate prints are still evoking mysterious attraction now as if performing
everlasting time.
For approximately two years after the war, Hamaguchi stayed at Rendaiji Onsen in
Izu. After regaining his health at the place with bright sunshine, surrounded by
mountains and near the sea, Hamaguchi went to Tokyo and devoted himself in
earnest in copper-plate print production. He created his own style at once, and went
over to France and developed a new technique. Even after being internationally
successful in Paris, Hamaguchi often visited this area in Izu. In 1980, three
exhibitions of Yozo Hamaguchi were held in Izu, and among them, the one at Ikeda
Museum of 20th Century Art was his first retrospective exhibition held in Japan.
This spring, at 110th anniversary of his birth, we retrospect Yozo Hamaguchi’s art
works with the two years of Izu as a starting-point, which can be called the dawn of
the artist. In addition to approximately 50 works, mainly copper-plate prints,
materials newly discovered and some episodes including the aspiration for art will be
newly introduced.