The Taro Okamoto Museum of Art in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, will be holding the exhibition "Isamu Noguchi and Taro Okamoto: Japan of Border Crossers" from October 6th to January 14th, 2019.

1954 Isamu Noguchi and Taro Okamoto at Mukyoan in Kita-Kamakura
Isamu Noguchi and Taro Okamoto first met in 1950 at a welcome party for Isamu Noguchi held at the Higashi-Nakano restaurant Monami, sponsored by the Japan Avant-Garde Artists Club. Isamu Noguchi, a sculptor who achieved global success despite facing conflicts over his identity between Japan and the United States, and Taro Okamoto, who spent 10 years of his youth in Paris before returning to Japan due to the war and being able to view the Japanese art world through the eyes of an outsider, each began their careers in Europe and the United States, where they approached Japanese culture as border-crossers and developed new forms of expression. The works of these two unique artists of the same generation, inspired by Japanese art, had a profound impact on the postwar art world. This exhibition marks the first time that it has focused on these two globally active artists. Approximately 150 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and documents from each artist will be on display, showcasing the Japan they saw as border-crossers.

Related events include a commemorative lecture titled "Banraisha and the Noguchi Room" on November 4th from 2pm, featuring Professor Watanabe Yoko of the Keio University Art Center, and a commemorative lecture titled "Isamu Noguchi and the Paris UNESCO Gardens (tentative title)" on November 25th from 2pm, featuring Gražina Sveritě, curator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Museum, Venice. Both will be held in the museum's Guidance Hall, with a capacity of 70 people, and are free of charge.

Don't miss this opportunity to reexamine the meaning of "Japan" and "Japanese beauty" through the works of two unique and unique cross-border artists, Isamu Noguchi and Taro Okamoto.