Finished

Special Exhibition
NOBUYA ABE 1913-1971: Insatiable Quest beyond Borders

2018.3.23(Fri) — 5.20(Sun)

Outline
Artwork
Information
Events

Nobuya Abe (1913-1971), an artist from Niigata, leaped into the spotlight at a young age through his collaboration with Shuzo Takiguchi on a book of poems and pictures entitled Yosei no kyori [Fairy’s Distance] (1937). He also eagerly contributed works and critiques to magazines and played a significant role in the avant-garde photography movement before World War II. From 1941, he was assigned to the military press section, where, besides producing posters and photographs at the front in the Philippines, he did many sketches. His artistic style changed bewilderingly after the war from Surrealism to Art Informel and geometric abstraction. He submitted his works to numerous international exhibitions such as the Bienal de São Paulo. Moreover, applying his natural language skills, he took part in international conferences and was active beyond the domestic boundary of Japan. He spent almost ten years late in life in Italy. While producing his own works, he also made an effort to introduce foreign artistic trends and his broad-ranging activities continued to have an influence on the Japanese art world.

In this exhibition, in addition to major works from his early period to his later years, through relevant materials such as magazines, photographs, and sketches and works by other Japanese and foreign artists who had connections with Abe, we shall trace the footsteps of this border crosser who continued to traverse not only countries and regions but genres and fields, too.

Nobuya Abe’s Circle of Friends
Ben Shahn, Lucio Fontana, Aiko Miyawaki, and Tomonori Toyofuku.

Some of the Artists included in An Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Paintings (1965) Produced by Nobuya Abe
Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Enrico Castellani, Piero Dorazio, Antonino Virduzzo,
Mario Schifano, Giuseppe Uncini, Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack, and Otto Piene.

Information

Exhibition Period

2018.3.23(Fri) — 5.20(Sun)

Opening Hours

10:00–17:00

No admittance 30 minutes before closing

Closed

Mondays *unless Monday is a national holiday, in which case the museum will be closed on the next non-holiday.

Admission

Adults 1,030 (820) yen, University Students 720 (620) yen, High School Students and Seniors [65 and over] 510 (410) yen
*Price in parentheses is that of advance ticket and a group of 30 or more
*Free for children under Junior High School age
*May 5 (Children’s Day): Free for children under High School age

Organized by

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, The Yomiuri Shimbunand The Japan Association of Art Museums

Supported by

Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima Municipal Board of Education, Hiroshima FM Broad Casting Co., Ltd.and Onomichi FM Broad Casting Co., Ltd.

Related Events

Finished

2018

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Mon

talk

14:00－15:00

Venue：

Finished

2018

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Sat

workshop

①11:00－12:30 ②14:30－16:00

Venue：
Capacity：

Finished

2018

／

Sat

"Nobuya Abe" Exhibition-related Lecture

lecture

14:00–16:00

Instructor： Toshiharu Omuka (Professor, University of Tsukuba)
Title：Real and Hyperreal in art in the late 1930s―Centering the works of Nobuya Abe
Venue：Museum Studio, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art

Finished