Creating tone of colors which nobody had ever seen before into this world.

This must be an artist’s unfulfilled dream.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Yozo Hamaguchi achieved this with copper-plate printing.

They are soft colors emerging from the darkness.

 

In this exhibition, together with Yozo Hamaguchi’s copper-plate prints,

the techniques to produce these colors are introduced with videos and printing experiences.

Please take your time to appreciate the colors that are unlikely existing in this real world.

Purpose of the Exhibition

 

Cherries floating in the quiet darkness. Copper-plate prints of Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000) are impressive in their gradation of darkness containing light. In this exhibition, along with his copper-plate prints, “silver folding screen with orchid and bamboo” by a Nanga artist Hatano Kagai (1863-1944), who had been in contact with Yozo’s father, is displayed. The silver folding screen is arranged with bamboo and spring orchids on a clear stream and steep rocks, and the shades of the color black expresses even the rising mist and the fragrance of orchids, approaching us with a sense of realism. The influence of sumi-e (ink wash painting) in Hamaguchi’s works has been pointed out by critics many times to date. In search for further connections beyond painting style, please look at the works of two artists that resonate in eternal time and space, especially the harmony of black this time.

 

 

Greeting

 

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the museum of Yozo Hamaguchi, a world-famous copper-plate print artist, – the black and black competition – has been realized by putting his work together with “silver folding screen with orchid and bamboo”, a masterpiece by Hatano Kagai, a female Nanga artist, who is connected to the Hamaguchi family.  This Kagai’s folding screen was displayed behind the leaders at the Hiroshima G7 Summit May last year, and many people might have seen it on TV. This year is the 100th anniversary of the creation of this folding screen, and it will leave Miyajima for the first time to come to Tokyo. The competition of the black color of copper-plate prints of Yozo, who grew up under the influence of Nanga, and the ink of Kagai might create a new myth. It would be very grateful if many people could take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to look at them.

 

Mari Odagiri

Great-granddaughter of Hatano Kagai

Copper-plate engraver Keiko Minami (1911-2004) was born in Toyama Prefecture and tried painting and poetry from her girls’ high school days.

After meeting Yozo Hamaguchi, who later became one of the leading copper-plate print artists of the 20th century, she was motivated and moved to France in 1953 and continued to create works in the world of copper-plate engraving.

Keiko Minami’s works are filled with full of transparent colors.

For example, the green color used in her works, one can feel her careful attention to the details, such as the green of the trees full of vitality and the warm green of the background.

During this trees and plants budding season, approximately 50 works are exhibited in this exhibition, mainly the works in gentle colors. Please take your time to appreciate the colors that remain unchanged in the shifting world.

 

Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000) is an artist active in the latter half of the 20th century. He pioneered a new technique called color mezzotint, and produced color expressions with soft depth and tranquility.

Among copper-plate engravings, mezzotint in particular, is one of the unfamiliar techniques in Japan, but it has a unique texture that one will never forget once seeing it.

In this exhibition, together with Yozo Hamaguchi’s works, novels about print works by mezzotint are introduced. They are a ghost story by British author Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), a science fiction novel about time by Kaoru Kitamura (1949-), and a brilliant short story by Kunio Tsukamoto (1920-2005) who is also a poet.

The print works in these novels carry the atmosphere of their respective eras and each work have an irreplaceable sense of presence within the novel. Please appreciate the feeling of mezzotint in literature along with approximately 50 copper-plate engravings by Yozo Hamaguchi.

Standing in front of Yozo Hamaguchi’s copper-plate engravings, one will be wrapped in the softness and tranquility of colors.

Together with the works of Yozo Hamaguchi, we introduce three artists who seek after delicate and clear expressions in the present age.

 

KUWABARA Hiroaki, an artist who creates a quiet world inside of a scope that can be wrapped in one’s hand.

TAKASHIMA Susumu, who eliminates subjectivity and continues to draw for materials and tools.

MAEDA Masayoshi, who puts ingenuous dreams into small moving sculptures.

 

Small shapes and delicate lines include far-reaching breadth.

This is an exhibition of expression that can be called a modest solemnity.

Please appreciate the works of four artists, which invite you from the horizon to the sky and to eternity.

 

We invited Ms. YANAI Midori, an art historian, as an exhibition adviser.

 

 

 

KUWABARA Hiroaki

 

Inside the brass scope, a small chair, etc., are locked in, that fits on one’s fingertips. When looking through it with a light through several holes of the scope, it looks as if time changes, or unexpected scenery appears depending on the angle of the light.

 

TAKASHIMA Susumu

 

All the works are drawings using materials that change the thickness of the lines.

The lines drawn by brushes are thick and deep at the beginning when they contain ink, and they become gradually thin and then faint.  To the contrary, lines drawn by color pencils or core metal are thin at the beginning when they are sharpened and gradually become thick.

By repeating these lines of varying thickness regularly and filling the whole drawing by them, works are born that can be said to be crystals of lines unique to each material.

 

MAEDA Masayoshi

 

Small moving sculptures address quietly. Simple lines perform the flow of time like poetry, and drawing out pure dreams and forgotten memories and emotions of inside of one’s heart.

At this exhibition, pictures and small moving sculptures are exhibited together.

Demonstrations of the small moving sculptures will be at 11:30 and 14:30 every day, and around 18:30 on night museum days.

 

HAMAGUCHI Yozo

 

The works are characterized by soft black that is created by carving a copper-plate over a long period of time.

They bring a feeling of tranquility and eternity.

 

 

 

2023 Summer Exhibition of Collections

Keiko Minami Copper-plate Prints Exhibition : Quiet Kingdom

2023 May 27 (Sat.) – Aug 6 (Sun.)

The World of Yozo Hamaguchi : Soft Light and Darkness – From the Dialogue Between Yozo Hamaguchi and Yasuo Kashiwakura, Scholar of French Literature

11 February 2023 (Sat.) – 7 May 2023 (Sun.)

Yozo Hamaguchi is a copper-plate artist representing the latter half of the 20th century. This exhibition brings out a part of the secret of the creation based on his own recollection.

In 1930, Hamaguchi withdrew from the Department of Sculpture at Tokyo School of Fine Arts and went to Paris, the international art city. While staying there, he tried oil painting and watercolor painting, but was forced to return to Japan due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, around after the age of 40, he began working on copper-plate engraving in earnest for the first time. After that, when he went again to Paris, he opened his way as a printmaker all at once. During his lifetime, Yozo Hamaguchi did not talk much about his own works, but in 1987, from the cheerful dialogue of the interview in Tokyo, it came up that his quiet works were always supported by soft ideas and an inquisitive mind. The interviewer was Mr. Yasuo Kashiwakura, a scholar of French literature who lived in Paris for seven years as an NHK correspondent, who had contact with the artist.

This interview was originally featured in our exhibition 11 years ago. In this exhibition, the interview is introduced from a new angle by adding works and materials that were discovered afterwards.

Fanfare Reflected in Eyes

-Copper-plate Engravings by Yozo Hamaguchi and Shin-hanga by Hasui Kawase and Others-

29 October 2022 (Sat.) – 29 January 2023 (Sun.)

Musée Hamaguchi Yozo – Yamasa Collection : 2022 Early Summer Exhibition

Invitation to Color

14 May (Sat.) – 10 July 2022 (Sun.)

2022 Exbihition

Yozo Hamaguchi・Bruno Mathon Joint Exhibition – A Door One Ahead –
15 January 2022 (Sat.) – 3 April 2022 (Sun.)