With his wife, the Western-style painter Toshi Maruki (née Toshiko Akamatsu; 1912-2000), the Nihonga (Japanese-style) painter Iri Maruki (1912-2000) collaborated to depict some of the calamities that have befallen people such as war and environmental pollution. The Hiroshima Panels, an important early trilogy by the Marukis, traveled all over Japan in the early 1950s at a time when press restrictions were still in effect. An early attempt to convey the horrific conditions that existed in Hiroshima following the atomic bomb, the series came to be a symbol of anti-nuclear and anti-war sentiment. Along with The Hiroshima Panels and related materials, this exhibition presents works by each artist from before and after the war, and considers how the pictorial endeavors and ideas expressed in the trilogy fit into the Marukis’ oeuvre.

The exhibition is made up of three sections: “Collection Highlights,” and two special features, “The Century with Mushroom Clouds,” and “Prayer.”In the first, we focus on artists who, as leaders in a number of important trends, are indispensable to any discussion of 20th century art.
The date August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bomb and a day that will never be forgotten in Hiroshima, will fall during the exhibition. To commemorate this fact, we present two special features focusing on art related to the bomb.