Exhibitions
KAMAKURA ANNEX Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
Polish Poster II from the Museum Collection: Former Collection of Copperplate Print Artist Watanabe Chihiro
Recognizing the international acclaim of Polish posters, copperplate engraver Watanabe Chihiro (1944–2009) began collecting them after visiting Poland in the immediate aftermath of the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe. His collection, totaling 250 works, was later donated by his family. Combined with the 295 posters already held by the Museum, it now forms a significant body of material for surveying the history of Polish poster design. This exhibition presents approximately seventy works by poster artists active before and after the political transformations of 1989, including Mieczysław Grochowski (1941–2011) and Stasys Eidrigevičius (1949–), selected from Watanabe’s former collection.
Image: Stasys Eidrigevičius, The 16th International Biennial of Contemporary Ex Libris, 1996, Museum collection
Reminiscences of Fukagawa: Ito Shinsui and Sekine Shoji
Ito Shinsui (1898–1972) and Sekine Shoji (1899–1919) were childhood friends who grew up in Fukagawa Ward of Tokyo City, now part of Koto Ward, Tokyo. Aspiring to become painters, the two maintained a close and stimulating relationship until Sekine’s untimely death at the age of twenty. This exhibition presents, for the first time, early works by Ito Shinsui from the 1910s, shedding light on the little-known youthful works of this later nationally celebrated artist. Alongside these are representative works by Sekine Shoji, tracing the mutual influence the two artists exerted on one another.
Images:[left] Sekine Shoji, Farmer, 1916, Museum collection; [right] Ito Shinsui, [An Angler in a Small Boat], 1919, On loan to The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama