Hideko Fukushima “Sasagemono”

Author birth and death: 1927 Tokyo - 1997 Tokyo
Year of production: 1957
Technique Material: Oil painting, canvas
Dimensions: 72.7 x 60.6 cm
Signature: Signed "Hide" at bottom right

Exhibition history: "Enomoto Kazuko and Fukushima Hideko Two-Person Exhibition," Yoseido Gallery, June 24-29, 1957, no. 4; "XI. Premio Lissone International Exhibition," Italy, 1959; "12th Homage to Takiguchi Shuzo: Fukushima Hideko 1948-1988," Satani Gallery, July 3-25, 1992, no. 13; "Avant-Garde Women 1950-1975," Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, July 24-September 11, 2005, no. 37; "Special Exhibition Fukushima Hideko: Chronicle 1964 - OFF MUSEUM," Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, February 4-May 6, 2012; "Pioneering Postwar Art" "Experimental Workshop," Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, January 12–March 24, 2013; Iwaki City Museum of Art, April 20–June 2, 2013; Toyama Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, July 13–September 8, 2013; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, October 5–November 10, 2013; Setagaya Art Museum, November 23–January 26, 2014, II-264; "Anti-Action: Their Responses and Challenges," Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, October 4–November 30, 2025; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, December 16–February 8, 2026; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, February 28–May 6, 2026, FH-11.

References: *Bijutsu Techo*, 136 (January 1958), p. 47, illustration; Rintaro Terakado (ed.), *The Ishii Collection at the University of Tsukuba, I. Paintings*, Department of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba, 2011, cat. 69; Toshiharu Igarashi and Minami Eguchi (eds.), *The Ishii Collection 5: Yuki Katsura and Hideko Fukushima*, Department of Art and Design, University of Tsukuba, 2017, col. pl. p. 10; Harumi Nishizawa, "On Hideko Fukushima's 'Sasagemono' (1957)," *Ishii Collection Studies 5: Yuki Katsura and Hideko Fukushima*, pp. 30-44; Toshiharu Igarashi (supervisor), Rintaro Terakado (ed.), *The Ishii Collection at the University of Tsukuba*. "A Feast of Beauty," Tsukuba University Press, 2021, frontispiece 9; "On Harumi Nishizawa's Creative Activities in the 1s - Painting, Poetry, Autoslide," "A Feast of Beauty," 2021, pp. 323-345.

Collection number: 2010-JO-IS010

Work description:
Influenced by surrounding artists such as Nobuya Abe and Shozo Kitadai, Fukushima continued to explore painting, and in the mid-1950s, he developed his own style of painting consisting of embossed circles and rectangular or linear shapes. It was established. ``Sasagi'' was exhibited at the ``Kazuko Enomoto and Hideko Fukushima Exhibition,'' which was recognized by Michel Tapié and led to her gaining acclaim both domestically and internationally, and is one of her representative works from this period.The strongly drawn lines and rectangles that divide the screen, and the large and small circles pressed in with varying degrees of strength, resemble water bubbles that appear and disappear. As seen in the auto slide ``Minawa is Created'' created at the Experimental Workshop, blisters were an important theme for Fukushima as they represented life.Furthermore, the composition of the rectangle and circle in the center looks like a human face, evoking the image of a ``person'' that has consistently appeared on the canvas since the beginning of his painting career.The strong lines and delicate circles create a unique sense of tension, creating a space filled with silence and lyricism.