"30 Years Since Death: Kumi Sugai" Exhibition at Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art. What Was the "Future Art" That Sugai Aspired To?
A retrospective of artist Kumi Sugai at Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art traces his lifelong pursuit of "future art."Summary
The Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art is hosting the retrospective exhibition "30 Years Since Death: Kumi Sugai" from October 2 to December 6, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the passing of artist Kumi Sugai (1919–96), who achieved international acclaim after moving to Paris. Sugai began his career as a designer for Hankyu Railway before moving to France in 1952, where his abstract paintings with an Eastern sensibility quickly earned attention in the Paris art world. Throughout his career, he continually reinvented his style—from series incorporating "sun" and the initial "S" motifs to highly geometric works stripped of texture—in his pursuit of "future art."
The exhibition is organized into a prologue, four chapters, and an epilogue. The prologue covers his work as a poster designer at Hankyu Railway from 1941 to 1952, revealing the origins of his artistic thinking under wartime and postwar constraints. Chapter 1 explores his transition to France and the development of his individual expression from the 1950s to the mid-1960s, featuring poetic works reminiscent of ink wash painting and calligraphy. Chapter 2 focuses on his ambition to realize "future art," including his fascination with Porsche, overcoming a 1967 car accident, and works such as the "Festival" series—including the large mural created for the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art—and the "Sun" series, showcasing his bold geometric abstraction.
(Source：美術手帖)