Kaihо̄ 解放

This exhibition surveys the work of thirty-nine women artists from Japan who contributed to the global artistic landscape from the post-war period to the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on the artists' creative resilience and persona! lives, it unfolds across five thematic chapters and brings together more than 120 works, many of which have rarely, if ever, been shown outside of Japan.

Through painting, sculpture, photography, film and installation, the exhibition traces how these artists engaged with the profound transformations of post-war Japan while mapping transnational trajectories across Asia, Europe, the United States and Brazil. Their work emerged during a period of greater freedom from patriarchal structures and changing relations to the nation-state, challenging fixed concepts of national identity and Western-centric art histories.

Yet despite their critical engagement with gender inequality, imperialism and environmental change, the majority of these artists have been dismissed from mainstream narratives. "Kaihō 解放: Japanese Women Artists after 1945" sheds light on their vital contributions to major artistic movements such as Gutai and Fluxus, as well as their role in the emergence of multimedia and performance practices. The project's title "Kaihō" (Breaking Free) reflects its ambition to rethink the interconnected histories of global modernisms and their legacies in contemporary art.

With works by: Saori Akutagawa, Ruth Asawa, Akiko Fujita, Hideko Fukushima, Mako Idemitsu, Mao Ishikawa, Ishiuchi Miyako, Tari Itō, Yuki Katsura, Sayako Kishimoto, Shigeko Kubota, Yayoi Kusama, BuBu de la Madeleine, Shōko Maemoto, Toshi Maruki, Yōko Matsumoto, Kyōko Michishita, Seiko Mikami, Kimiyo Mishima, Aiko Miyawaki, Kazuko Miyamoto, Mariko Mori, Nobuho Nagasawa, Fujiko Nakaya, Yūko Nasaka, Machiko Ogawa, Tomie Ohtake, Yoko Ono, Takako Saito, Yoshiko Shimada, Mieko Shiomi, Chiharu Shiota, Mitsuko Tabe, Minami Tada, Toshiko Takaezu, Atsuko Tanaka, Taeko Tomiyama, Tsuruko Yamazaki, Shizuko Yoshikawa

The exhibition is curated by Florence Ostende, Director of Artistic Programmes and Content, Guggenheim Bilbao, with Yurika Imaseki, Research Associate, and Anaël Daoud, Assistant Curator, Mudam Luxembourg.

The presentation of the exhibition at Lenbachhaus is curated by Eva Huttenlauch, Head of Department Collections/Exhibitions/Education and Head of Collections/Curator Postwar and Contemporary Art, Lenbachhaus Munich.

The exhibition is organised by Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in collaboration with Lenbachhaus Munich and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. The partner institutions gratefully acknowledge the advisory guidance of Reiko Kokatsu, art historian and art critic.

With generous support from Förderverein Lenbachhaus e.V.