In Japan

Zadkine had his first exhibition in Japan, in 1922, at the Bunka Gakuin Art School. The Bunka Gakuin Art School was founded in Tokyo, in 1921, by Isaku Nishimura. An artist, potter and architect himself, and very open to the Western world, he surrounded himself with writers, poets, musicians and painters to staff this institution. Zadkine was a friend of the painter Foujita, and was certainly introduced by him to this circle of art lovers, as he exhibited in 1922 in this Tokyo art school, which was an exceptional feat for a Western artist in this era. A catalogue was published, illustrated with 3 sculptures (Head of a Man with Lead Eyes, The Female Musician in polychrome wood and Venus Caryatid, in wood) and 6 drawings and gouaches. The cover was illustrated with a wood engraving. His links with Japan continued: The Takanodaï Gallery in Tokyo devoted an exhibition to him in 1924, between 1925 and 1930 he took part in the Salon of the Nikwa Artists’ Society and in 1932 in the Paris-Tokyo Exhibition of Avant-Garde Artists. After the war, it was Mr Mizushima, President of the Fujikawa Galleries, who helped to establish Zadkine's presence in Japan by organising large exhibitions of his work in 1954, 1959, 1989-1990, and 1998.