TAKIGUCHI Shuzo: Writing and Drawing

June 23 [Tue] - October 4 [Sun], 2026

About this exhibition

The Artizon Museum, operated by the Ishibashi Foundation, is pleased to present the exhibition TAKIGUCHI Shuzo: Writing and Drawing, together with Selections from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection in the museum’s fifth- and fourth-floor galleries, featuring highlights of the collection with a focus on modern art.
The Ishibashi Foundation collection contains 163 works (including collaborations with others) by Takiguchi Shuzo (1903–1979), a leading poet and art critic of the 20th century. This exhibition will be the first to present roughly half of these works together since their acquisition.
Takiguchi’s career centered on the act of writing. He began composing poetry in the 1920s under the influence of Surrealism, and from the 1930s through the postwar years he continued to think and write about art, ranging from the work of Paul Cézanne to that of his own contemporaries. In 1960, he began seriously producing visual works which he called dessins (French for “drawings”). For Takiguchi, who had long engaged with the world through writing, what did it mean to draw instead? With this question as its point of departure, the exhibition surveys the full scope of his activities, from poetry and art criticism to exhibition planning and exchanges with other artists, presenting approximately 120 items in total. These include Takiguchi’s visual works, produced using a wide range of experimental techniques, alongside works by related artists such as Paul Klee, Marcel Duchamp, and Joan Miró.

Biography

ANZAI Shigeo, Takiguchi Shuzo, Jiyugaoka Gallery, Tokyo, January 1978, 1978/early 1980s, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation © Estate of Shigeo Anzaï

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo(1903–1979)

Takiguchi Shuzo was born in Toyama Prefecture and moved to Tokyo in 1921. From 1926, he studied under Nishiwaki Junzaburo in the Department of English Literature at Keio University, where he developed an interest in Surrealism, then at the leading edge of contemporary art, and began writing poetry. His translation of André Breton’s Le Surrealisme et la Peinture was published in 1930. From this time onward, his engagement with visual art deepened, and he began writing primarily on Surrealism. In the 1950s, Takiguchi was highly active as an art critic, contributing critical essays, writing on the open-call Yomiuri Independent Exhibition, and taking part in the selection of artists for exhibitions at Takemiya Gallery, making him an important figure on the contemporary Japanese art scene. At the 29th Venice Biennale in 1958, he served as commissioner for the Japan Pavilion and as a member of the international jury. Around 1960, he scaled back his critical writing and focused on producing drawings and watercolors, and in October of that year he held his first solo exhibition, From My Sketchbook, at Nantenshi Gallery. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he continued to present his own work while experimenting with a wide range of techniques and forms. He died of illness in 1979.

Exhibition overview

Exhibition title

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo: Writing and Drawing

Exhibition period

June 23 [Tue] - October 4 [Sun], 2026

Opening hours

10:00–18:00 (until 20:00 on Fridays) *Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Closed

Mondays (except July 20, September 21), July 21, September 24

Organizer

Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Venue

5, 4F Galleries

Concurrent Exhibitions

Ettore Sottsass: Design begins where magic begins

Ticket prices (incl. tax)

On-line ticket In-Person ticket (purchase at museum)
General 1,200 yen 1,500 yen
University
college
high school students
Free entry Advance booking required
Please present their student ID upon entry.
Disabled visitors
(plus one accompanying assistant)
Free entry Advance booking not required
Please present disabled person’s handbook upon entry.
Children
through junior high school
Free entry Advance booking not required
*Online tickets must be purchased up to 10 minutes before the end of each time slot.
*Booking is not accepted when a time slot is full.
*In-Person ticket may be purchased at the museum, if the time slot is not full.
*This admission fee gives the visitor access to the concurrent exhibitions.

Art works

ANZAI Shigeo, Takiguchi Shuzo, Jiyugaoka Gallery, Tokyo, January 1978, 1978/early 1980s, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation © Estate of Shigeo Anzaï

ANZAI Shigeo, Takiguchi Shuzo, Jiyugaoka Gallery, Tokyo, January 1978, 1978/early 1980s, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation © Estate of Shigeo Anzaï

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Untitled, 1962, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Untitled, 1962, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Work, 1966, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Work, 1966, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Tick-tick my heart-the watch・・・・, 1971, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Tick-tick my heart-the watch・・・・, 1971, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Untitled, 1971, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, Untitled, 1971, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, OKAZAKI Kazuo, Oculist Witnesses after Marcel Duchamp, 1977, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation ©︎ Kazuo Okazaki

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, OKAZAKI Kazuo, Oculist Witnesses after Marcel Duchamp, 1977, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation ©︎ Kazuo Okazaki

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, To and From Rrose Sélavy: Selected Words of Marcel Duchamp, 1968, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

TAKIGUCHI Shuzo, To and From Rrose Sélavy: Selected Words of Marcel Duchamp, 1968, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Paul KLEE, Small Seaport, 1937, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

Paul KLEE, Small Seaport, 1937, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

OKA Shikanosuke, Power Plant in the Snow, 1956, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

OKA Shikanosuke, Power Plant in the Snow, 1956, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

FUKUSHIMA Hideko, Silver Painting, 1959, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

FUKUSHIMA Hideko, Silver Painting, 1959, Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation

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