Natsuyuki Nakanishi Exhibition Opens November 12 at The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki; Touring from Osaka, with a Recreated Work Based on the Rokkakudo

On Thursday, November 12, “Natsuyuki Nakanishi: An Apparatus That Lingers Forever in Order to Gaze Slowly” opens at The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki (Mito City). It is said to be the first retrospective of Natsuyuki Nakanishi (1935–2016) since his death. Through about 75 works and more than 200 materials, including drawings and photographs, it traces more than half a century of his work. It runs until Sunday, January 17, 2027.

Who was Natsuyuki Nakanishi? From Hi Red Center to painting

Nakanishi was born in Tokyo in 1935. In 1958 he graduated from the Department of Painting (Oil Painting) in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts, and in 1963 he formed the avant-garde art collective “Hi Red Center” with Jiro Takamatsu and Genpei Akasegawa. After collaborating with the butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata and others, he resumed painting in the late 1960s. From 1996 to 2003 he was a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.

Using brushes with long handles, he produced series based on purple and yellow-green. He also experimented with painting on suspended, swaying canvases, operating long-handled brushes as if by remote control (The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki).

The press materials (January 27, 2026) of The National Museum of Art, Osaka, the first venue of the tour, outline Nakanishi’s path as follows: around 1960 he moved away from painting to work with Hi Red Center, and his encounter with Tatsumi Hijikata led him back to painting. According to the materials, the exhibition takes as its cue Nakanishi’s description of painting as an “apparatus” and engages with that question.

What can be seen? Four chapters and main works

• Chapter 1 “Alchemy of Living Bodies and Matter”: Traces how his cross-genre practice, including avant-garde works from his student days, objects made with everyday items, and collaborations with Hi Red Center and Tatsumi Hijikata, bore fruit in his later painting

• Chapter 2 “The Place of Painting and the Shape of Painting”: The period after his fresh start in painting in the late 1960s, when he reconsidered where painting is located. He also used the forms of the human body, geometric forms and materials such as metal

• Chapter 3 “Arcs from the Point at Infinity”: A turning point from the late 1970s onward. Introduces series with bamboo bows attached, works painted on suspended canvases with long-handled brushes, and the later elliptical and ℓ-shaped works and purple and yellow-green series

• Chapter 4 “Light Overflowing onto an Imaginary Ground”: Introduces paintings and the installation series “Landing and Splashdown,” begun in the mid-1990s

Main works include “Compact Object” (1962, The National Museum of Art, Osaka) and “Clothespins Assert Churning Action” (1963, partly recreated). “Hopscotch on the Summit No. 3” (1970) and “Work: For Example, at the Water’s Edge XII” (1985) are in the collection of the Sezon Museum of Modern Art. “Fast White in the Center XIII” (1990, Chiba City Museum of Art) and “Passing Each Other / S-Shaped Reduction” (2011, The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki) are also on view. “Ama-no-Iwato,” a work from his student days, is shown for the first time.

“Landing and Splashdown XIV: Izura Coast,” only at the Ibaraki venue

At the Ibaraki venue, “Landing and Splashdown XIV: Izura Coast” (2013), a work in the series with ties to Ibaraki, is recreated and displayed. Its motif is the Rokkakudo in Kitaibaraki City, built by Okakura Tenshin in 1905, washed away in the Great East Japan Earthquake and rebuilt in 2012. It is shown only at the Ibaraki venue.

The National Museum of Art, Osaka’s press materials also cited the milestone of 15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake as one aspect of the exhibition’s present-day significance.

In the Art Forum Corner on the 1st floor (free admission), a slideshow of photographs by Mitsuru Goto is shown. Goto served as Nakanishi’s studio assistant and also documented his work. About 400 photographs were selected from more than 7,000, many of them shown for the first time.

The last venue of the tour, and related events

The exhibition began at The National Museum of Art, Osaka (March 14 – June 14, 2026), traveled to the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art (July 4 – August 23) and is currently at the Sezon Museum of Modern Art (September 5 – November 3). Among the tour venues listed in The National Museum of Art, Osaka’s press materials, The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki is the last.

During the run, a workshop and discussion, “Circle and Disc: On Places Where Paintings Resonate,” will be held on Sunday, November 29, and a viewing lecture by the curator in charge on Saturday, December 5. A butoh performance, “Beyond Time,” is planned for Saturday, December 12. “Natsuyuki Nakanishi: Linked Paintings – Painting About Painting” will be held on Sunday, December 20, and a gallery talk by the curator in charge on Saturday, January 9, 2027. Check the museum’s official website for times and how to apply.

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 1,240 yen for adults, 620 yen for those 70 and over, 980 yen for high school students and 550 yen for elementary and junior high school students. Groups of 20 or more pay 1,130 yen (adults), 560 yen (70 and over), 820 yen (high school students) and 420 yen (elementary and junior high school students). Visitors who bring a disability certificate, a medical expense recipient certificate for a designated intractable disease or similar, together with one companion, are admitted free. On Saturday, November 21, those 70 and over are admitted free, and high school students and younger are free on Saturdays except December 26 and January 2, 2027.

Opening hours are 9:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30). The museum is closed on Mondays; it is open on November 23 and January 11, 2027, and closed on the following days instead. It is also closed over the year-end and New Year holidays, from December 29 to January 1, 2027.

The address is 666-1 Higashikubo, Senba-cho, Mito City. From Bus Stop 8 at the North Exit of JR Mito Station (also Bus Stop 2 at the South Exit on weekdays), take a bus bound for “Haraizawa” or “Hongo,” get off at “Bunka Center Iriguchi” and walk about 5 minutes (fare 190 yen). It is about a 20-minute walk from the South Exit, or about 5 minutes by taxi. In Mito, the collection exhibition “Reunion” opens at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, on November 7. Contemporary art exhibitions are gathered in our guide to contemporary art exhibitions.

Overview

Name: Natsuyuki Nakanishi: An Apparatus That Lingers Forever in Order to Gaze Slowly
Dates: Thursday, November 12, 2026 – Sunday, January 17, 2027
Hours: 9:30–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (open on November 23 and January 11, 2027, and closed the following days), year-end and New Year holidays (December 29 – January 1, 2027)
Venue: The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki
Address: 666-1 Higashikubo, Senba-cho, Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture
Admission: Adults 1,240 yen, 70 and over 620 yen, high school students 980 yen, elementary and junior high school students 550 yen (group rates for 20 or more)
Organizers: The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, The Yomiuri Shimbun, The Japan Association of Art Museums
Cooperation: SCAI THE BATHHOUSE
Grant: Pola Art Foundation
Official website: https://www.modernart.museum.ibk.ed.jp/viewer/info.html?id=517
*Information as of October 19, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Natsuyuki Nakanishi, “Compact Object,” 1962, The National Museum of Art, Osaka ©NATSUYUKI NAKANISHI (from a press release by the Agency for Cultural Affairs announcing the exhibition at The National Museum of Art, Osaka)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on information on the official website of The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki and press materials from The National Museum of Art, Osaka (January 27, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team