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Exhibition

This exhibition displays works of art selected from the collection, particularly those produced with colors and forms which convey a feeling of straight lines, and straight lines such as horizontal and vertical lines.

Abstract paintings, born in the 20th century, tried to express the pure mind of the artist more directly to develop a spirituality in art, and endlessly devoted to a passionate movement, challenging sometimes society, sometimes history.  It will be soon 90 years since more revolutionary abstract paintings were born in Europe changing from traditional paintings to cubism.

At that time there were some Japanese artists who went to Bauhaus, an art school, in Germany and brought the movement of geometrical constructive painting back to the world of art in Japan and so introduced this new trend from Europe.  Unfortunately, this trend did not spread in Japan.  One of the reasons for this is that there were few critics who understood or paid much attention to the trend since it was far ahead of the times.

The unpopularity of abstract paintings may also be due to viewer’s way of appreciation. Japanese may have understood geometrical constructive space more, if they had not “tried” to understand it so much. There were or still are Japanese traditional houses around us which are divided by geometrical spaces.  A traditional tea house, in particular, is simple but highly calculated because it harmonizes a geometrical constructive space with natural space.  This is why you can appreciate geometrical constructive space without being aware of it when you visit old Japanese buildings.

It is, moreover, unfortunate that there have been many people who visit an art museum and say, “I have little knowledge of art history,” or “I cannot understand geometrical constructive painting” even before seeing it.   This is a sort of preconception which prevents viewers from appreciating abstract paintings or geometrical constructive paintings.

Just imagine that you enter the exhibition room and stand leisurely in front of pieces of art to touch their spirit as if you were watching rivers and mountains and listening to birds chirping around you, and you will find that a change comes into being in your mind and body just as a sense of balance is kept in you by touching a healing or peaceful space.

Art can be generally said to develop your consciousness or sensibility.  It is one of our pleasures to see the world of art changing from a point to a straight line, a straight line to a plain, or, vice versa, from a plain to a straight line.  You can make an artistic expedition freely by listening to the voices of works of art or having a dialogue with them.

The exhibition shows relief, cubic work, as well as painting, two-dimensional work.  Relief is a work of visual art which looks different depending on the aspect of the observer. You will be surprised that when straight lines become something beyond straight lines they become a surface plain. In addition to relief, colors also produce different spaces.  Choose your favorite piece and nurse it, and you are sure to have a different view of straight lines or surface plains.


Exhibition of Satoru Sato

“Satoru Sato:The Beginning of Straight Lines, 1965-79”

This section displays 17 works selected from 350 pieces and produced between 1965 and 1979, which announce the beginning of straight lines in his art.  They include  pieces produced before going to Paris, abstract paintings (in oil) based on straight lines , produced at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and pieces (in acrylic color) exhibited in Tokyo and Paris.  In addition to this, there are 6 small pieces in a Japanese-style room on the second floor and a cubic work in the back garden at the end of the entrance hall.常室展示室の展示風景
 

Satoru Sato in 1965 - 1972 His Works from 1965 - 1972
2 pieces, a still life and a painting of an interior scene, produced before going to Paris.
4 pieces, abstract paintings (in oil) based on straight lines, produced at the Eclole
in Paris.
Satoru Sato in 1973 - 1974 His Woerks from 1973 - 1974
7 pieces, abstract paintings (in acrylic color on canvas) based on straight lines, produced in Paris.
Satoru Sato in 1975 -1979 His Works from 1975 -1979
4 pieces, abstract paintings (in acrylic color on canvas) based on straight lines, produced in Paris.

Exhibition of Overseas Artists >>