Electric Cable Paintings – From Kiyochika Kobayashi to Akira Yamaguchi

Nerima Art Museum

This event has ended.

Often derided from an aesthetic standpoint, electric cables block our views of clear blue skies. However, they also have nostalgic value as a familiar part of our cities and sceneries. This exhibition looks at the roles and artistic representations of electricity poles from the early Meiji period through the present. In the paintings of Kiyochika Kobayashi, they appear front and center as a symbol of civilization. They are evidence of Tokyo’s expansion in the works of Ryusei Kishida and the modernization of cities in paintings by Gentaro Koito. Kanemon Asai, known as “Mr. Electricity Pole Landscape” depicts them with a touch of the surreal. This show is a chance to revisit urban modernization and Tokyo from a new perspective through the lens of electric cables and electricity poles.