An exhibition in Tokyo from July 2–7 will showcase 60 works by the painter and ukiyo-e collector Toshihiko Isao, reflecting his decades-long artistic journey. Published on By Painter Toshihiko Isao has been capturing the scenery of the Musashino region in Tokyo's suburbs for over half a century. His retrospective exhibition, which runs from July 2 for six days at the 's community gallery, will feature around 60 artworks and books.
It will showcase Isao's artistic journey from his earliest sketches, through his abstract period, and back to the landscapes of Musashino. Isao is also renowned as a collector of ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi and as an author of books on ukiyo-e. His ten major oil paintings were well-received when displayed alongside his ukiyo-e collection at the exhibition "Kuniyoshi-ism: Utagawa Kuniyoshi and His Lineage" at the Nerima Ward Art Museum in 2016.
Isao's column on , " ," shares insights on ukiyo-e and the allure of Musashino from both an artist's and collector's perspective. Musashino has been celebrated in poetry since the Heian period (794–1185). Literary master Doppo Kunikida (1871–1908) describes the region in a short story titled (1901) as a vast, beautiful landscape where nature and humans coexisted harmoniously.
However, with the development of Tokyo and its surrounding areas, much of this Musashino has been lost. "The old Musashino is described in a classic poem: 'On the Musashi plain/There is no mountain/Behind which the moon disa.
