Dates

Wed., December 13, 2023 – Sun., May 19, 2024

Venue

Exhibition room 5

Sugiyama Yasushi (1909–1993) was a leading figure in postwar Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) whose work is distinguished by sharp detailed depictions, intellectual compositions, brilliant colors, and profound textures. After setting out on his first international journey, traveling to Egypt and Europe, in 1962, Sugiyama was inspired to make pictures of countless foreign landscapes. Developing a particular fondness for the Middle and Near East, he dealt with motifs that had previously never been depicted in Nihonga such as natural scenery and ruins in Egypt, Greece, ancient Etruria, and the Cappadocia region of Turkey.

Sugiyama’s outstanding sketching ability formed the foundation of his art. In addition to his gift for accurately depicting a motif with his finely honed observational skills, Sugiyama was blessed with an exceptional talent for structure, creating pictorial spaces that were both intelligent and elegant. At the same time, beginning in 1960, he began to devote himself to abstract expressionism, and his strong predilection for texture led him to embrace canvas, a staple of Western painting, rather than washi paper and silk fabric that was traditionally used in Nihonga. In addition, by combining fine grains of sand with mineral pigments, he sought to realize a rough uneven texture.

The Pola Museum of Art Collection contains a total of 43 works by Sugiyama. These paintings combine realistic expressions rooted in the artist’s accomplished sketching ability with abstract expressions imbued with rich sensitivity. For this exhibition, we present a selection of Nihonga pervaded by a fantastic atmosphere, in which the motifs are accentuated by rich textures and distinct contrasts, and pastel pieces, whose subjects are lovely flowers and fresh fruit.