Isamu WAKABAYASHI

1936 – 2003

Biography ｜ Works ｜ Exhibitions ｜ Collections

Biography ｜ Works ｜ Exhibitions ｜ Collections

Works ｜ Biography ｜ Exhibitions ｜ Collections

Exhibitions ｜ Biography ｜ Works ｜ Collections

Selected solo exhibitions ｜ Group

Solo exhibitions at KENJI TAKI GALLERY

1959
“Erootitismedia I – VII” Mitsugi Gallery, Tokyo (First Solo Exhibition)
1965
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Sculpture Exhibition” Bank of Yokohama, Machida Branch, Tokyo
1973
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Drawing and Sculpture Exhibition” The Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa

1987
“Artist of Today: Isamu Wakabayashi” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Traveled to: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto)

1988
“Isamu Wakabayashi: 1986.10 – 1988.2” Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka
1990
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Prints, Drawings and Sculptures” Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo
1995
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Drawings as Events” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

1996
“Smoke and Fog: Isamu Wakabayashi” Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi (Traveled to: Koriyama City Museum of Art, Fukushima; Yamagata Museum of Art)

1997
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Works since 1989” Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi (Traveled to: The Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa; Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama; The Museum of Art, Kochi)

1998
“ISAMU WAKABAYASHI” Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany (Traveled to: Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Germany)

1999
“Isamu Wakabayashi – A Dog Circles Round” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2000
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Silence of Iron, Words of Green” Asago Art Village Museum, Hyogo
“Isamu Wakabayashi – Ally of Sulfur” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2001
“Isamu Wakabayashi – Tree Bark and Vacant Land” Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo

2002
“Isamu Wakabayashi” Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
“Isamu Wakabayashi New Works” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya

2003
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Regarding Shindoshaku” (The Oscillation Gauge)” Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba
“Isamu Wakabayashi – copper/arc” Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2004
“Isamu Wakabayashi” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
“Works from the Collection: Isamu Wakabayashi” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2005
“Isamu Wakabayashi Prints: Between Drawing and Sculpture” Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Walnut Tree – DRAWING 1993–1998” Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo
2006
“Isamu Wakabayashi　Bouquet – drawing 1996” Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2007
“Isamu Wakabayashi: DAISY 1993–1998” Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo
2008
“Isamu Wakabayashi: VALLEYS” Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa
2010
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Dog Field Drawing 1980–1992” Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo
“Isamu Wakabayashi – Submergence” Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2012
“Isamu Wakabayashi – Recollection” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2013
“Isamu Wakabayashi: The Man in His Studio – Drawing 1955–2003” Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo
2014
“Special Feature from the 3rd Collection Exhibition: ‘Father: Isamu Wakabayashi’” Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa

2015
“Isamu Wakabayashi” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Flying Leaves and Oscillation” Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi (Traveled to: Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi; The Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa; Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo; Urawa Art Museum, Saitama)

2016
“Isamu Wakabayashi” Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo
2020
“Artists Associated with Machida: Isamu Wakabayashi” Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo
2021
“Isamu Wakabayashi / Sekigahara” Sekigahara Ningenmura Living Museum, Gifu
“New Acquisitions: Isamu Wakabayashi” The Museum of Modern Art, Kanagawa
“Special Exhibition: Isamu Wakabayashi’s Garden for the Karuizawa Takanawa Museum” Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Nagano
2023
“Works from the Collection: 20th Anniversary of the Death of Isamu Wakabayashi” Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
“Isamu Wakabayashi: Edge of the Woods” Musashino Art University Museum & Library, Tokyo
2024
“Isamu Wakabayashi” Kenji Taki Gallery, Roppongi
2026
“Isamu Wakabayashi －Run and Rest－“, Nerima Art Museum, Tokyo

Selected group exhibitions ｜ Solo

1963
“New Generation of Sculpture” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
1966
“Trends in Contemporary Art Exhibition” The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto Annex
1967/1968
“The 2nd Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture” Ube Open-Air Museum, Yamaguchi (Awarded the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Award)
“The 1st India Triennale – International Art Exhibition” Tokyo Central Museum, Tokyo; International Academy of Art, New Delhi, India
“The 1st Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition” Suma Rikyu Park, Kobe (Awarded the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Award)
1969
“International Iron and Steel Sculpture Symposium” Expo ’70 Site, Osaka (Permanently installed)
1970
“The 2nd Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition” Suma Rikyu Park, Kobe (Awarded the Mr. K Prize)
1975
“The 13th Middelheim Biennale” Middelheim Open-Air Sculpture Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
“The 6th Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture” Ube Open-Air Museum, Yamaguchi (Awarded the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art Award)
1977
“The 7th Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture: Abstraction and Figuration in Contemporary Sculpture” Ube Open-Air Museum, Yamaguchi (Awarded the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Award)
1980
“The 39th Venice Biennale” Japan Pavilion, Venice, Italy
1981
“The 2nd Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition” The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa (Awarded the Utsukushi-ga-hara Open-Air Museum Award)
“Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition: Trends of Japanese Art in the 1970s” Art Center of the Korean Culture and Arts Foundation, Seoul, South Korea
“Inaugural Exhibition” Karuizawa Takanawa Museum (currently Sezon Museum of Modern Art), Nagano (Installation of Iron Gate, 1st Stage)
“The 1960s: A Turning Point in Contemporary Art” The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Traveled to: The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto)
1985
“ARTIST’S BOOKS JAPAN” Franklin Furnace Gallery, New York (Traveled to: Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo)
“Sculpture japonaise contemporaine” Galerie Jullien-Cornic, Paris, France
1986
“The 42nd Venice Biennale” Japan Pavilion, Venice, Italy
“Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition” National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
1990
“A Primal Spirit: Ten Contemporary Japanese Sculptors” Hara Museum Arc, Gunma (Traveled to: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, USA)
1996
“The 27th Teijiro Nakahara Prize Exhibition” Hokkaido Asahikawa Museum of Art, Hokkaido
2001
“Ikiro / Be Alive: Contemporary Art from Japan 1980 until Now” Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands
“BOX ART Exhibition” Rias Ark Museum of Art, Miyagi (Traveled to: Niigata City Art Museum; Okazaki Mindscape Museum, Aichi; Shizuoka Art Gallery; The Museum of Art, Kochi)
2003
“Gifts from Artists Exhibition” Niigata City Art Museum (Traveled to: Misumi Town Kazuki Museum, Yamaguchi; Sapporo Art Park, Hokkaido; The Museum of Art, Kochi; Daimaru Museum Umeda, Osaka; Joshibi Art Museum, Kanagawa)
2006
“Japanese Public Art Living in Spaces” Sapporo Art Park, Hokkaido (Traveled to: Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo)
“The Matter of Sculpture: Works by Kiyoshi Kawashima, Takeshi Tsuchitani, and Isamu Wakabayashi” Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima
2007
“The Modernity of Japanese Sculpture: From the Meiji Era to the 1960s – A 100-Year Journey of Contemporary Sculpture” Miyagi Museum of Art (Traveled to: Mie Prefectural Art Museum; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
2010
“MASKS” Chiba City Museum of Art (Traveled to: Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi)
“This is Not a Book: The Expansion of Book Art” Urawa Art Museum, Saitama (Traveled to: Fukui City Art Museum)
2011
“Collaboration of Art and Books” Urawa Art Museum, Saitama (Traveled to: Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka)
2013
“Re:Quest – Japanese Contemporary Art since the 1970s” Museum of Art, Seoul National University, South Korea
“The Arrival of Susanowo: Life, Anger, Prayer” Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi (Traveled to: DIC Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Chiba; Hakodate Museum of Art, Hokkaido; Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum, Yamagata; The Shoto Museum of Art, Tokyo)
2019
“Drawing Lines in Space: Sculpture and Drawing” Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa (Traveled to: Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi; Kuma Museum of Art, Ehime; Hekinan City Tatsukichi Fujii Museum of Contemporary Art, Aichi)
2021
“The Three Titans!! Jiro Takamatsu, Isamu Wakabayashi, Lee Ufan: The Plate/Print as a Site” Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
2022
“Polyphony of Function and Decoration” Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
2025
“Saburo Muraoka / Isamu Wakabayashi / Noriyuki Haraguchi” Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya
2026
“Statics of an Egg” David Zwirner, New York

Collections ｜ Biography ｜ Works ｜ Exhibitions

Public Collections

・The National Museum of Art, Osaka
・The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
・Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi
・Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido
・Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo
・Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Mie
・Shiga Museum of Art, Shiga
・The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama, Kanagawa
・Ashikaga Museum of Art, Tochigi
・Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba
・Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo
・Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima
・Iwaki City Art Museum, Fukushima
・Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka
・Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo
・Minokamo City Museum, Gifu
・Nagoya City Art Museum, Aichi
・Nakahara Teijiro Memorial Asahikawa City Sculpture Museum, Hokkaido
・Sapporo Art Museum, Hokkaido
・Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
・Takamatsu Art Museum, Kagawa
・Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
・Urawa Art Museum, Saitama
・Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa

Other

・Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Chiba
・MIHO MUSEUM, Shiga
・Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Nagano
・The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Kanagawa
・Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
・Expo ’70 Commemorative Park
・Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima
・Tama Art University, Tokyo

Overseaes

・Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands