The exhibition is made up of three sections: “Collection Highlights,” and two special features, “The Century with Mushroom Clouds,” and “Prayer.”
In the first, we focus on artists who, as leaders in a number of important trends, are indispensable to any discussion of 20th century art. These include European artists from the first half of the century who, while associated with cutting-edge art movements, established their own unique styles; and Japanese artists who embraced Anti-art as a means of deviating from existing forms of artistic expression in order to create their own original art. There are also artists who were aligned with the Art Informel movement, known for its freeform and abstract approach, and avant-garde abstract paintings by members of the Gutai group and others, as well as some of the standard-bearers of Pop and Minimal Art, trends that began to flourish in the U.S. in the 1960s. All of these works are masterpieces produced by eminent figures who made their mark on the history of contemporary art.
The date August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bomb and a day that will never be forgotten in Hiroshima, will fall during the exhibition. To commemorate this fact, we present two special features focusing on art related to the bomb. The first, titled “The Century with Mushroom Clouds,” deals with the mushroom cloud as an image that has come to symbolize Hiroshima. In the second, “Prayer,” we introduce a selection of tranquil works connected to the act of praying, and imbued with memories of the tragedy and the theme of regeneration. The depiction of concrete subjects such as the mushroom cloud and the Atomic Bomb Dome, and expressions of abstract concepts related to the bombing function as visualizations of the event. Please take some time to view these works that have been entrusted with the mission of conveying memories of the atomic bomb to successive generations.
quoted from Official website
