2023 Collection Exhibition 2
Special Section:WAKABAYASHI Isam, 20 Years after his death

The Yokosuka Museum of Art holds four exhibitions each year of works from our collection. The works being shown in this exhibition include modern and contemporary Japanese art, together with works by artists with special connections to Yokosuka.

During this exhibition period, we are presenting a special section of our collection as Wakabayashi Isamu, 20 Years After His Death.
It has been twenty years since Wakabayashi Isamu (1936‒2003) passed away. His sculpture Valleys (2nd Stage) (1989/installed 2006) stands in the forecourt of the Yokosuka Museum of Art.Wakabayashi distinguished himself as a young sculptor with his iron works in the late 1960s. Taking part in the Venice Biennale twice and other exhibitions in Japan and abroad, he was recognized as a leading sculptor of postwar Japan. Valleys was donated to Yokosuka City in 2003, and it was in 2006, after the artist’s death, that it was installed at the Yokosuka Museum of Art. Thanks to the cooperation of his surviving family and many others concerned, more than fifteen years after the opening of the museum, surrounded by a luxuriant growth of trees, the sculpture has been integrated into nature, enhancing its presence all the more.

In Exhibition Halls 4 and 5, through this exhibition of drawings related to Valleys from the museum collection, we hope you will be able to give thought to Wakabayashi Isamu’s view of sculpture.
In Exhibition Halls 6 and 7, additional displays of drawings and small sculptures dating from 2003 should reveal how the sculptor continued working in the few remaining days of his life.
Exhibition Hall 8, the Asai Kan’emon Hall, displays Sumo Picture by Asai Kan’emon, which depicts a sumo match at the Kuramae Kokugikan, then under temporary construction, in 1952. In conclusion, we offer thanks once again to all those who donat ed these valuable works of art.