The largest-ever pop art exhibition, "American Pop Art," opened at the National Art Center, Tokyo on August 7th. It brings together works by Andy Warhol, previously unseen in Japan, as well as works by pop art pioneers such as Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg.
This exhibition features a total of 206 American pop art pieces. The exhibition is divided into eight sections, each representing a different artist. It comprehensively presents paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, and multiples, including masterpieces from the 1960s.
All of the works on display come from the collection of Colorado-based collectors John and Kimiko Powers. The couple are among the world's leading collectors of both Japanese and contemporary art. They have been active patrons of pop art since its inception in the 1960s. By directly supporting artists, they have built one of the world's largest private pop art collections. Making its Japan debut, Warhol's "200 Campbell's Soup Cans" was given to his wife, Kimiko Powers, by a friend in the 1970s, when Warhol was first gaining attention. Pop art is a genre of artistic activity that takes mass-produced, mass-consumed popular culture as its theme, and began to flourish in the 1960s. Three Campbell's Soup Cans, considered a symbol of pop art, were produced, all of which are on display in this exhibition. The "Kimiko Powers" series, a portrait of Warhol's wife, Kimiko, who was a close friend of Warhol's, was produced as a series of three series throughout the 1980s. While Warhol's portraits primarily focused on celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, from the 1970s onward, the subject matter gradually expanded to include friends and socialites, marking a turning point in his career as a painter, eventually developing into standardized commissioned portraits based on Polaroid photographs.

Furthermore, as for Jasper Johns, one of the artists with whom Mrs. Powers has a strong connection, she owns almost all of his works, with only about five missing. In 2011, she opened the Powers Art Center, which conducts research, exhibits, and promotes Jasper's prints. "This was the best presentation we've ever had," said Mrs. Kimiko, who visited Japan for the exhibition.

"It's meaningless if you don't just own the art, but also display it. Living with art is what's important. I hope that this exhibition will allow people to learn about the culture of America, the country where I spent such happy times. I would especially like children to see it," she concluded.



[Event Information]
American Pop Art Exhibition
Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo, Special Exhibition Gallery 2E
Address: 7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Period: Until October 21st
Opening Hours: 10:00 to 18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays, last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Adults 1,500 yen, university students 1,200 yen, high school students 800 yen
Closed: Tuesdays
Exhibiting Artists: Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Mel Ramos Ramos, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann