Shinoda Toko: Gold and Silver, and the Colors of Light and Time
Information
- Period
- Jan 9 (Fri.)–Mar 27 (Fri.), 2026
- Closed
- 2nd and 4th Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays
- Admission
- General 500 yen, high school students and younger free of charge
- Event
- Workshop: Painting with Gold and Silver
Participants will paint one panel with gold and another with silver to create a pair of panels.
Date: March 7 (Sat.), 2026
Time: 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Place: Taichi Hall, Gifu Collection of Modern Arts
Capacity: 10
*In case of more than 10 applicants, participants will be chosen by lottery and acceptance advised by email.
Participation fee: 2,000 yen per team (please pay at the Toko Gallery reception desk on the day.)
Deadline for reservations: February 15 (Sun.)
How to apply: See the event application form at the Museum website https://www.gi-co-ma.or.jp/contact/
Gallery Talk by Museum Curator
A curator will show participants around the exhibition, explaining the works on display.
Date: January 17 (Sat.), 2026
Time: 1:30 p.m. (about one hour)
Free of charge (a ticket to the Gallery is required)
Advance reservations unnecessary; meet at the Toko Gallery reception desk.
About the Exhibition
For Shinoda Toko, who had pursued a path into abstract expression in sumi amid the rise of the avant garde calligraphy movement after the end of World War II, a two-year sojourn in the United States starting in 1956 provided a major turning point. It was a time of great resonances between the avant garde calligraphy in Japan and abstract art in Europe and the United States when artists were searching for new modes of expression, and Shinoda’s works in sumi drew wide acclaim. She had found her own original form of expression, but at the same time she also recognized anew how indispensable to her art was sumi and Japan’s distinctive climate and culture. She returned to Japan, and from around the 1970s, her sense of Japanese tradition and art began to emerge in highly refined forms in her work. Among those forms was her use of gold and silver. Contrasting with the restrained monochromes of sumi and decorative with a refined elegance, they deepened the richness of the black strokes over which they were drawn. The look of the silver, which gains depth with the passage of time, exemplifies the elegance and sensitivity of the Japanese aesthetic. While exploring the possibilities for incorporating light and time through the use of gold and the changeful silver, Shinoda was constantly creating her own distinctive art.
This exhibition introduces works that illustrate her diverse expressions using gold and silver over various shades of sumi.