Ikuro Yagi (b. 1955) maintains his innovative nihonga painting practice from his home in Shizuoka Prefecture where his roots have long been set. Yagi’s home city is framed by mountains, forests, rivers and the sea, and he sees no barrier between man-made spaces and the surrounding terrain which he depicts prominently. His education brought him to Paris following study under nihonga master Matazo Kayama at Tama Art University and western-style painter Koji Kinutani. The French influence invigorated his approach to nihonga styles, the medium through which he began to depict all sorts of material culture. His vivid paintings of sea creatures, flowers in bloom, and all other sorts of wilderness draw on decorative traditions that defined nihonga painting in the era of ornate interiors during the Edo period (1603-1868). Yagi began working with the Agency for Cultural Affairs in 1985, and his works have exhibited widely in Japan and received many accolades.
Solo and Group Exhibitions
1987 Exhibitions, Yoko-no-kai (by invitaton through 1993)
1990 Exhibition, "Japanese Painting—Present Day Visual Sensation," Niigata City Fine Art Museum (Niigata)
"Modern Folding Screen Painting" (Germany)
1991 Exhibition, Sinseido Gallery & Kawabe Art (Tokyo)
1997 Exhibition "Large Wall Painting," Takashimaya (Tokyo; Yokohama; Osaka)
Exhibition, "Japonisme," Shizuoka Matuzakaya; Gallery Shiraishi; A Square
1998 Exhibition, "Japanese Painting—Purity and Beyond Borders," Nerima Ward Museum (Tokyo)
1999 Exhibition, "Work of Ikuro Yagi," Hirano Art (Tokyo)
Exhibition, "Modern Japanese Painting," Okazaki Mindscape Museum (Okazaki)
2001 Exhibition "Beginning," Shinjuku Park Tower (Tokyo)
2002 Exhibition "Japanese Painting, Modern Times and Innovation" Akino Fuku Museum (Shizuoka)
NEXT Exhibition, Kyoto Takashimaya (through 2007) (Kyoto)
2003 Exhibition, "Eye Exhibition of Twenty-one Century" (through 2009)
Exhibition, "Modern Japanese Painting, its adventurers"
2004 Exhibition, "Misao Yokoyama and Men of Yokonokai," Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum (Niigata)
Exhibition, "Oigawa," Shimada City Art Museum (Shizuoka)
Exhibition, "Ceiling Painting of Heisei," Taimadera Nakanobo (Nara)
2008 Exhibition, "Ikuro Yagi's Japanese Painting" Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art (Shizuoka)
2009 Exhibition, "Modern Ink Painting, Modern Point of Ink Painting Expression," Ink Painting Museum (Toyama); Nerima Ward Museum (Tokyo)
Exhibition, "Japanese Painting, Production of Victor," KAZE Art Project
Exhibition, "Society of BOU," Kawabe Art (Tokyo)
Exhibition, "Society of ZA," Namiki Art Gallery (Tokyo)
2024 Exhibition, "Ikuro Yagi: Grand Nature," Ippodo Gallery New York (USA)
Awards
Yamatane Art Museum Prize Exhibition (1991)
Scholarship to Study Abroad, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Paris (1991)
Shizuoka Prefecture Award for Cultural Prize Exhibition (2006)
Award for Takashima Art, Takashimaya Cultural Fund (2010)
Public Collection
Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art
Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum
Hirano Museum of Art
Hamamatsu Industrial High School
Shimada City Museum
Art Museum in Prefectural Museum of Hiroshima
Nerima Art Museum
Shizuoka Prefectural Government
Taima Temple
Zoujyou Temple
