It has been 40 years since the passing of Masao Tsuruoka, an artist who looked at society and humanity with a cool gaze. Within Japanese postwar art, he is known for paintings such as “Omoi Te” (Heavy Hand). In 1953 he produced the masterpiece “Ningen Kika” (Human Vaporization) about nuclear issues. The next year he vowed to depict “things, not events” and from the 1960s painted humorous and erotic works in pastels. He made TV appearances in which he performed artist experiments. In 1968 he painted “Rifle Man” about the Kin Kiro Incident and this work was used in the Nagisa Oshima film “Diary of a Shinjuku Thief.” Focusing on the work “Ningen Kika Ekiisu” (Human Vaporization Esquisse), this exhibition exhibits six oil paintings, 12 pastels, five bronze sculptures, and more than 10 drawings. Rare clay works used as models for the bronze pieces are also presented with the cooperation of Tsuruoka’s family.
2 minute walk from exit A2 at Hatchobori Station on the Hibiya or JR Keiyo line, 4 minute walk from exit 7 at Shintomicho Station on the Yurakucho line.
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