Marie Laurencin (1883-1956) was a female painter active in the first half of the twentieth century. She is often introduced as a Cubist, but she is a presence who does not fit the art-historical narrative focused on avant-garde art movements and isms. Laurencin herself stated that Matisse, Derain, Picasso, and Braque, her contemporaries, were the artists who influenced her. She did not, however, imitate their styles but created her own, using pastel colors. While observing her time and its demands, she sought her own direction.

This exhibition includes about forty works by Laurencin from the Ishibashi Foundation Collection and museums in Japan and abroad, plus twenty-five related materials, including her illustrations for books, and twenty-five works by painters who were her contemporaries. Through approximately ninety works, the exhibition introduces Laurencin’s oeuvre in terms of multiple themes, and, comparing her work with that of other painters with whom she is connected, explores the fascinating nature of her paintings.