The Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art's summer special exhibition 2024, "Times of War: Foujita Tsuguharu in Japan - From Everyday Life to Wartime," is running until Tuesday, September 2024, 9.
This exhibition focuses on the 1930s and 40s, when Foujita spent time in Japan, between his time in Paris when he gained fame and his postwar life in France when he decided never to return to Japan. Through Foujita's works produced as the war intensified and precious portrait photographs taken by Domon Ken, the exhibition explores the inner world of Foujita, as the shadow of war crept closer and he gradually became embroiled in it.
Among the highlights are three works that will be on public display for the first time: the ink painting "Cat" that Fujita painted as a gift to celebrate the achievement of completing the compilation of the "Dai Nihonshi" (Great History of Japan) in 3 when the 13th head of the Mito Tokugawa clan, Kuniyuki, who had been a friend of Fujita since childhood, became a duke;
Further works include "Jiujiang: Maintenance of the Air Force," which depicts in soft yet vivid colors the daily life of Jiujiang, a port town on the Yangtze River (China) that was under the control of the Japanese army, and "Children Playing in the Street," which depicts the Japanese landscape of the 1930s that Peter saw while accompanying the French intellectual Jean Cocteau on his stay in Japan.


Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art
In addition, the special exhibition room in the museum will be hosting "Tsuguharu Foujita's Work of Books in Japan - France as Seen by Foujita." This special exhibition will allow visitors to learn about the state of Japanese society in the 1930s, when a progressive atmosphere was in the air even as war was fast approaching. By viewing this exhibition together with the special exhibition, you will be able to get a stronger sense of the social situation at the time.
◆ "The Age of War: Tsuguharu Foujita in Japan: From Everyday Life to Wartime"
[Dates] Currently being held - Tuesday, September 2024, 9
[Venue] Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art (43-10 Karuizawa Higashi, Karuizawa-machi, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano Prefecture)
[Time] 10:00-17:00 (entry until 16:30)
[Closed] Wednesdays (open on public holidays, closed the following weekday. However, open every day in August except for the 8th (Wednesday))
[Admission fee] Adults: 2,300 yen / High school students and younger: 1,100 yen / Preschoolers: Free
*100 yen discount if you purchase tickets online.
*Various other discounts available
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