Exhibitions
HAYAMA Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
Ansei and Toshiko Uchima: Weaving Colors and Memories
Born in the United States as a second-generation Japanese immigrant, Ansei Uchima (1921–2000) moved to Japan in 1940 with the aspiration of becoming a painter. After the war, he became acquainted with Koshiro Onchi (1891–1955) and Shiko Munakata (1903–1975) , immersing himself in the world of creative printmaking. Through various artistic transitions, he developed his own woodblock print technique, "weaving color planes" (shikimen-ori), which led to the creation of his series Forest Byobu. This exhibition also highlights works by his wife, Toshiko Uchima (1918–2000), celebrated for her fantastical assemblages, alongside works by artists such as Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), offering a window into the creative world of the Uchima couple.
Image: Ansei Uchima, Forest Byobu (Autumn-Stone), 1979, Private collection
New Treasures of the Museum Collection II: Sculptures of Recent Acquisition
This is the second exhibition in the "New Treasures of the Museum Collection" series, which introduces newly acquired works. Following "New Treasures of the Museum Collection I" (2024, Kamakura Annex), which showcased paintings acquired by the Museum from fiscal years 2015 to 2019, this exhibition will feature sculptures and three-dimensional artworks acquired between fiscal years 2020 and 2024, focusing on pieces that will be displayed publicly for the first time since their acquisition. The exhibition includes works such as Sumi Wakiro’s EVIDENCE, which was donated after being exhibited in his solo exhibition held at The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, and Kurokawa Hirotake's Spartoi No. 20, transferred from Kanagawa Kenmin Hall. All works featured in this exhibition were donated to or transferred into the Museum's collection through generous contributions from the artists and related parties. This exhibition is intended to honor and preserve these "treasures" for future generations.
Image: Esashi Tomoko, Moth Woman, 1999, Museum collection
Unprecedented: Women Photographers from the GDR
After World War II, Germany was divided into East and West. Women who forged careers as photographers in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) before its dissolution in 1990, and who produced outstanding works of artistic expression, represent a perspective that has often been overlooked in re-examining the history of German photography.
The exhibition features fifteen women photographers, mostly from the Sven Herrmann collection at the Stiftung Reinbeckhallen in Berlin, which is renowned for its vintage prints. It introduces artists who were significant figures at the time and who remain influential today. Through their work, viewers encounter refined perspectives and assured techniques directed toward society and everyday life in a nation that once existed, and are invited to consider the role these works played in shaping visual culture.
Image: Ute Mahler, Fashion photography: Julia in the water, Lehnitz, 1979, 1979/2025, Collection Sven Herrman by Stiftung Reinbeckhallen. © Ute Mahler. Courtesy Loock Galerie, Berlin
The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura and Art of the Showa Era
From the Museum Collection
In 1951, the Museum opened within the grounds of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura City. Designed by Sakakura Junzo (1901–1969), the building became affectionately known as the “Kamakura Museum of Modern Art (Kamakin),” and was later designated an Important Cultural Property after the building closed.
In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Showa era, this exhibition presents masterpieces by artists shown at the Museum during that period, including Matsumoto Shunsuke (1912–1948), Chokai Seiji (1902–1972), and Yamaguchi Kaoru (1907–1968). These works are presented alongside archival materials documenting the building of The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, itself regarded as a landmark of Showa-era architecture.
Image: Matsumoto Shunsuke, Building, 1935, Museum collection
Copperplate Print Artist Komai Tetsuro
Constellations on the Palm of His Hand
Komai Tetsuro (1920–1976), one of Japan’s most important copperplate engravers, left a significant mark on the history of Japanese printmaking. Primarily drawn from the Yoshiharu Fukuhara Collection at the Setagaya Art Museum, this exhibition features rarely seen early oil paintings as well as original illustrations for the fairy tale A Little Boy Lost, shown here for the first time. Through works by Komai, his copper plates, tools, photographs, and works by artists in Japan and abroad who influenced him—including Odilon Redon, whom he studied and deeply admired—the exhibition examines the breadth of his creative activity and artistic character.
Image: Komai Tetsuro, Le Rêve (Bright Starry Night [Dream No.3]), 1950, Setagaya Art Museum (Fukuhara Yoshiharu Collection). © Ari Komai 2026/JAA2600043
Tasogare, Kawatare: “In-Between” in Contemporary Art
From the Museum Collection
Tasogare (twilight) and Kawatare (dawn) —both also meaning "who is that?”—are archaic Japanese terms describing a time of day when the boundary between light and darkness gradually dissolves, and the outlines of things begin to blur. Focusing on the presence of kage, a term encompassing shadow, shade, and ambiguity, this exhibition traces uncertain forms and sensations found in twentieth-century art. On view are Yunoki Samiro’s (1922–2024) collage work Images in the Night, created from vintage fabrics; Okazaki Kazuo’s (1930–2022) Hisashi, positioned in the intervals of light; and photographs by Sugimoto Hiroshi (1948–) and Moriyama Daido (1938–) that capture shifting relations of light and shadow. Featuring many works acquired in recent years, the exhibition introduces a range of expressions that emerge in moments of transition and ambiguity.
Image: Yunoki Samiro, "Images in the Night”16, 2005, Museum collection
Matsumoto Yoko
The Day I Saw the Evening Star
Matsumoto Yoko (1936–) began pursuing abstract painting in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, encounters with Abstract Expressionism and acrylic paint in the United States led her to develop a singular pictorial language characterized by radiant light and color. Since returning to oil painting in the late 1990s, she has continued an active and sustained practice. Amid a growing international reappraisal in recent years, this exhibition traces Matsumoto’s creative trajectory of more than seventy years, from her earliest works to the present, and includes new paintings created specifically for this exhibition.
Image: Matsumoto Yoko, Private Botanical Dictionary, 2024, Artist’s collection. Courtesy Hino Gallery
Marc Chagall: The Fables of La Fontaine
From the Museum Collection
Marc Chagall (1887–1985) was born to a Jewish family in Vitebsk, then part of Imperial Russia. Amid the Russian Revolution and the upheavals of war, he moved between Moscow, Berlin, New York, and Paris, yet continued to captivate audiences worldwide as a “painter of love,” whose work is imbued with a deep and enduring gaze toward his homeland. The Fables of La Fontaine, inspired by a cornerstone of French literature, represent a culmination of Chagall’s artistic vision. Transcending nationality, ethnicity, and the experience of war, these works transform hope into a poetic visual language that continues to resonate with us today. This exhibition presents all one hundred works from the Museum’s Mochizuki Tomiaki Collection, shown in two parts.
Image: Marc Cagall, From the series The Fables of La Fontaine, "The Man and His Image", 1927-30/ published 1952, Museum collection (Mochizuki Tomiaki Collection)
Suda Yoshihiro Exhibition
Suda Yoshihiro (1969–) is known for installations in which meticulously carved flowers and plants, rendered with striking realism, are placed within exhibition spaces, transforming the space itself into a work of art. Exhibited widely in Japan and abroad, these familiar forms appear to grow or be arranged naturally within the gallery, quietly unsettling the viewer’s perception by blurring the boundary between nature and art.
Focusing primarily on new works, this exhibition includes pieces inspired by plants found in and around the Museum in Hayama. Within this setting, surrounded by sea and mountains, a space emerges that transcends the conventional division between nature and art. The exhibition also presents works selected by the artist from the Museum’s collection together with related new pieces, creating a site for unexpected dialogues that cross time and context.
Image: Suda Yoshihiro, Camellia, 2026, Artist’s collection
Tanaka Takashi: Traces of Color － From Life of Woman
From the Museum Collection
In 1957, Tanaka Takashi (1921–2014), then an emerging artist who had just received the inaugural Yasui Prize, created the mural Life of Woman for the tea room of the former Kamakura building of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. Following the building’s closure in 2016, the mural was relocated to the foyer in front of the auditorium at the Hayama building. This year marks the seventieth anniversary of its creation and the tenth anniversary of its relocation. Centered on Life of Woman as a pivotal point in Tanaka’s career, this exhibition traces his artistic trajectory primarily through works from the Museum’s collection.
Image: Tanaka Takashi, Colored Light, 2001, Museum collection. Photo: Takenaka Haruji