Culture

Celebrating 89 Years of Toshihiko Isao with Special Solo Exhibition

An exhibition in Tokyo from July 2–7 will showcase 60 works by the painter and ukiyo-e collector Toshihiko Isao, reflecting his decades-long artistic journey.

Published

3 months ago

June 26, 2024

JAPAN Forward

Painter Toshihiko Isao in his atelier in 1970.

Painter Toshihiko Isao has been capturing the scenery of the Musashino region in Tokyo's suburbs for over half a century. His retrospective exhibition, which runs from July 2 for six days at the Nerima Art Museum's community gallery, will feature around 60 artworks and books. It will showcase Isao's artistic journey from his earliest sketches, through his abstract period, and back to the landscapes of Musashino.

*"Musashino in the Snow" by Toshihiko Isao, 2018. (Photo by ©Hiroyuki Horikawa)*

Ukiyo-e Expert and Collector

Isao is also renowned as a collector of ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi and as an author of books on ukiyo-e. His ten major oil paintings were well-received when displayed alongside his ukiyo-e collection at the exhibition "Kuniyoshi-ism: Utagawa Kuniyoshi and His Lineage" at the Nerima Ward Art Museum in 2016.

Isao's column on JAPAN Forward, "A Visit to the Atelier," shares insights on ukiyo-e and the allure of Musashino from both an artist's and collector's perspective.

Musashino's Changing Landscape

Musashino has been celebrated in poetry since the Heian period (794–1185). Literary master Doppo Kunikida (1871–1908) describes the region in a short story titled Musashino (1901) as a vast, beautiful landscape where nature and humans coexisted harmoniously. However, with the development of Tokyo and its surrounding areas, much of this Musashino has been lost.

*"A Tree and the Sun" by Toshihiko Isao, 2024. (Photo by ©Hiroyuki Horikawa)*

"The old Musashino is described in a classic poem: 'On the Musashi plain/There is no mountain/Behind which the moon disappears/It rises and sinks among the grass,'" Isao reflects in his writings. "Doppo's Musashino was a place where nature and humans blended harmoniously. Now, as we live in a new chapter of Musashino's long history, we need to reconsider the relationship between nature and humanity."