Hiroki Oda "Paris-Sengawa"

Tokyo Art Museum

Finished

Artists

Hiroki Oda

Hiroki Oda (1914-2012), who gained popularity for his paintings of Parisian landscapes and women, used Kamisoshigaya in Setagaya as his base of production and living since 1957. Chofu Sengawa, which is within walking distance, was the artist's favorite walking course, and he frequently visited the area around the Tokyo Art Museum until his last days.

After 1960, Oda went to Paris many times and made many sketches. However, neither the sketches nor the oil paintings based on them are direct reproductions of Parisian scenes. They represent Oda's own world, transformed through the artist's inner filter. What appears in his paintings are places that do not exist anywhere in reality. His paintings can be said to have been drawn in the "space" between France and Japan.

Unlike the luscious and gorgeous world of his paintings, Oda himself lived a simple life and created many works of art. He was not associated with the legend of the wildly successful artist, but on the contrary, such repetition of daily life may have been essential for him to let his imagination fly freely as a painter. For him, Sengawa is a place that belongs to such daily life. Paris-Sengawa" not only refers to the two places on the map, but also to the two places where Oda's mind went back and forth in order to construct his painting world.

Tokyo Art Museum has held three exhibitions of Oda's work: a memorial exhibition in 2012, a centennial exhibition in 2014, and a five-year posthumous exhibition in 2017. This exhibition, held on the 10th anniversary of his death, reexamines Oda's work by exhibiting his oil paintings, including a large work (No. 300) that was exhibited at the Nika Exhibition, as well as unpublished sketches and other materials.

Schedule

Jan 8 (Sat) 2022-Jun 26 (Sun) 2022