COLLECTION 2023-3

NARA Yoshitomo has captivated countless hearts across many nations and generations through his art, which often features young girls with piercing, defiant gazes and installations of whimsical yet somewhat melancholic canines. Nara was born in Hirosa
ki City, Aomori Prefecture, in 1959, the same region that saw the birth of another prominent artist decades earlier: woodblock artist MUNAKATA Shiko, born in Aomori City in 1903. Despite sharing a birthplace and international acclaim in the art world
, these artists are separated by more than half a century: Munakata from the 1900s and Nara from the late 1950s.

While Nara would likely have been familiar with the name Munakata—a towering artist from the same region—he was more drawn to the breadth of music and literature in contemporary popular culture from a young age. For Nara, Munakata’s artistic universe
could perhaps be described as something close to home yet far removed.

In this exhibition, we juxtapose the works of these two homegrown talents side by side. The similarities in motifs bring into sharp relief the differences in material and expression as if to mirror the changing times that underpin them. In each artis
t’s liberating, free-spirited world of expression, both unbound by conventional values, might there not be a subtle undercurrent of common ground that has fostered such distinctive creative practices?

The nature of Aomori, which MUNAKATA Shiko(1903-1975) repeatedly sketched as a youth and deeply imprinted in his mind and body, is the starting point of Munakata’ art. Munakata continued to paint the scenery of Gappo Park and Hakkoda mountains, his b
ase for sketching, even after leaving Aomori for the rest of his life. In addition to nature, Aomori culture such as Nebuta Festival and Jomon, also enriched Munakata’s work.

Even after Munakata had gained worldwide acclaim and become extremely busy, he continued to take on as many jobs as possible that Aomori requested of him. Notable among these was the work in 1961 of the huge mural “A Flower Arrow” that adorned the ne
w Aomori Prefectural Government Building. In creating this work based on an Ainu festival, Munakata says he hoped that Aomori would develop further and that the flow of Japanese culture would move from the north to the south.

KON Junzo (1893-1944), born in Hirosaki City, Aomori, is one of Japan’s leading modern copperplate artists. He created many works based on the nature, folk customs and landscape of Aomori.

Born into a family of doctors for generations, Junzo was expected to pursue a career in medicine, but over the objections of his family, he decided to become a painter. Later, he continued to work as a Western-style painter in Tokyo, but after the Gr
eat Kanto Earthquake of 1923, he moved to Aomori City. In Aomori, Junzo began researching copperplate and lithography while working as a printer for a living. In 1933, he produced ” Aomoriken Gafu（Picture book of Aomori Prefecture）” (1933), a realist
ic record of the natural landscape and people’s lives in Aomori Prefecture, and in 1935, he began work on “Sosaku-Hanga Shohin shu (Small Works of Prints) ” .

In addition to creating works of art, he was also passionate about fostering the next generation of artists, and his house and studio near Gappo Park in Aomori City, which he built himself, was visited by many young Aomori residents who aspired to b
ecome artists.

” Aomoriken Gafu（Picture book of Aomori Prefecture）”, “Sosaku-Hanga Shohin shu (Small Works of Prints) “and “Etching Shohin shu（Small Works of Etching）”, which are the centerpieces of this exhibition, capture the pre-war image of Aomori. Junzo’s dep
ictions of prewar Aomori are not only valuable historical and ethnographic records, but also attract us today because of the high artistic quality of his excellent skills as a printmaker.

What is true art? Perhaps a gratuitous act? I think so.

Until his later years, NARITA Tohl (1929-2002)repeatedly stated the importance of “initial feelings” as a creative motivation. Narita was shocked by the war documentary paintings he saw as a boy, spent his impressionable youth in the confusion of the
postwar period, worked in film and television during the period of rapid economic growth, and completed his “Monument to Demons” (1991) in Oe-cho, Kyoto, which can be considered the culmination of his sculptural work during the bubble period. Furthe
rmore, Narita became mentally exhausted by the fact that the Ultraman and monsters he had designed had become objects of consumption, and he began to focus on their “tragic existence”.

Narita was an artist who struggled throughout his life between social values and his own expression. This is not to be taken as Narita’s personal problem, but to be considered within the context of the cultural and social history of postwar Japan. At
a time when a sense of social stagnation is once again growing stronger, there seems to be much to consider in the life of Narita Tohl and his remaining works.

TERAYAMA Shuji(1935-83), born in Hirosaki City, Aomori, was a multi-artist who began his expressive activities with haiku in high school, moved into tanka poetry after entering university, and later moved into radio, television, film, horse racing, a
nd sports criticism. In 1967, he formed “Theater Laboratory ◎ Tenjo sajiki” to shake up people’s old fashioned values, and through his diverse activities, Terayama also discovered and nurtured talented young people in various genres such as art, desi
gn, and music.

The 1960s and 1970s were a time when so-called underground culture was at its height. While rapid economic growth led to rapid modernization, there was a growing movement to criticize power and the system and to reject conventional values, as if to d
enounce the contradictions of modern capitalist society. Among these trends, Terayama in particular demonstrated a unique talent for capturing the interest and attention of the public.

This exhibition will feature 18 posters for advartising “Theater Laboratory ◎Teio Sajiki”.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) is one of the 20th century’s most well-known painters. In 1942, he created backdrops for the ballet Aleko in the United States, the country he fled to in order to escape the Nazi regime. The Aomori Art Museum possesses three
of the four backdrops created for the ballet in its collection. Each backdrop is approximately 9 meters tall and 15 meters wide. Chagall’s passion for color bursts from the huge canvases.

Within the massive Aleko Hall in the second basement, backdrops from the ballet “Aleko” painted by the great 20th century painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985) are on display. The program(approx.12minutes) which facilitates understanding of the story of
the ballet by using light, music and narration is held at the Aleko Hall. The show time as follow:

13：00－　Japanese version ＋　English version