Color Fields
from the Collection of Audrey and David Mirvish
March 19 － September 4, 2022
- Hours：
- 9:30－17:00 (last admission 16:30)
- Closed：
- Mondays (except Mar. 21 and July 18), Mar. 22, Apr. 20, May. 24-31, July 19
- Organizer：
- DIC Corporation
- Special Cooperation：
- David Mirvish Gallery
- In Association with：
- Embassy of Canada to Japan, Chiba Prefecture, The Board of Education of Chiba Prefecture, Sakura City, The Board of Education of Sakura City
Museum Admission
- Adults ¥1,500
- College / 65 and over ¥1,300
- Elem / JH / HS ¥600
Groups of 20 or more：
Persons with a disability pass：
- Adults ¥1,200
- College / 65 and over ¥1,000
- Elem / JH / HS ¥400
*Admission also includes entrance to the permanent collection galleries.
- For students and seniors over 65, discounts require identification such as a Student ID, passport or driver's license.
- For persons with a disability pass=the same discounted price applies for one accompanying care-giver for each disability pass holder
Outline
Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting which developed mainly in the US from the latter half of the 1950s to the 1960s. By creating fields of color across the canvas, extensive and profuse pictures emerged.
Featuring works from the Mirvish Collection, which is internationally renowned for its Color Field paintings, this is the first exhibition to be held in Japan with focus on nine artists involved in Color Field and introducing distinguished works dating from the 1960s onwards. These artists each explored the relationship between color and painting in their own way, and in that process, many of them attained painting techniques of their own. Using shaped canvases with irregular forms, staining the canvas with paint, spraying color on with a spray gun, etc.—these unfamiliar techniques opened up new horizons in painting.
The large canvases and the diverse ideas on color unfolded there continue to stimulate the viewer’s sensibility and imagination to the present day. As you walk through the gallery filled with the artists’ individual approaches toward colors embodied in these works, you will encounter the infinite potential of color and thus painting.
The Collection of Audrey and David Mirvish
Audrey and David Mirvish are world-renowned collectors of Color Field paintings. Influenced by his mother, who was an artist, David took a keen interest in art from early on. In the autumn of 1963, at age 18, he opened an art gallery in Toronto. Enchanted by works by artists such as Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Jules Olitski, he soon began planning solo and group exhibitions mainly of works by Color Field painters. After marrying Audrey in 1967, the couple shared a passion for art. During the approximately fifteen years until the gallery was closed in 1978, the works they purchased directly from the artists in conjunction with the exhibitions they planned became known as the best collection of Color Field painting in the world.
They continue to contribute to the understanding of the artists and their works by energetically collecting to this day and lending part of their collection to exhibitions held at museums in Europe and America.
Events
Guided Tours
Daily, 14:00－15:00
- Booking required on the day of your visit at the Museum’s reception desk.
Gallery Talks by the Curator
Saturday, April 9, 11:30-
Saturday, May 14, 11:30-
Saturday, June 11, 11:30-
Saturday, July 9, 11:30-
Saturday, August 13, 11:30-
- Prebooking required
Lecture
Kajiya Kenji
(Contemporary art history; Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Sunday, June 12, 13:30－15:00
- Prebooking required
Tea Room
Original Japanese sweets designed especially for the exhibition under the supervision of wagashi artist Sakamoto Shiho can be savored.
Annex Gallery
March-May: Display and pop-up store organized by the Museum Shop
July-August: Display of PIGMENT TOKYO pigments and summer vacation workshops