The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art will present "Cy Twombly: Works on Paper, 50 Years," the first solo exhibition in Japan of this 20th-century master. The exhibition will run from May 23 to August 30.

Cy Twombly began his career as an artist in the early 1950s. Abstract Expressionism was sweeping America at the time, and his improvisational style, which at first glance resembles a child's scribble, was influenced by this movement. He eventually began producing action paintings, expressing his inner energy in an impromptu and passionate way through the physical act of painting with his hands. In 1957, he moved to Rome, where he began incorporating motifs from the mythology, history, and literature of the region. A retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1979 brought Twombly's name to international recognition. In his later years, he received numerous awards, including the Praemium Imperiale, the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, and the Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur. Twombly's works feature improvised lines and splashes of paint, interwoven with letters, numbers, symbols, and other elements in a chaotic fashion. This exhibition focuses on his drawings and monotypes, primarily on paper. The works directly convey his unique qualities of improvisation, speed, theater, and intuition. This exhibition is a reimagining of an exhibition held at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2003, adapted to the Hara Museum's space. Twombly personally selected the works for the exhibition, which later toured major European and American museums, generating significant buzz. The current exhibition features approximately 70 works created between 1953 and 2002. Additionally, a selection of Twombly's works will also be on display at the Hara Museum ARC, an annex of the museum in Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture, during the same period.
[Event Information]
Cy Twombly: Works on Paper, 50 Years of History
Venue: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Address: 4-7-25 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Dates: May 23rd to August 30th
Hours: 11:00am to 5:00pm (until 8:00pm on Thursdays except for national holidays. Last admission 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Adults 1,100 yen, University and High School Students 700 yen, Elementary and Middle School Students 500 yen
Closed: Mondays (open on July 20th), July 21st