Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation

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Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation

Kontaktinformationen, Karte und Wegbeschreibungen, Kontaktformulare, Öffnungszeiten, Dienstleistungen, Bewertungen, Fotos, Videos und Ankündigungen von Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation, Kunst, Selnaustrasse 25, Zürich.

04/10/2026

Kaihō — Japanese Women Artists after 1945

A remarkable exhibition opened at Mudam Luxembourg last week, bringing together women artists whose practices unfolded within — and far beyond — postwar Japan.

Across abstraction, material experiment, technology, the body and migration, Kaihō traces artistic trajectories that connected Japan with places including New York, São Paulo and Zurich. Rather than adding women artists to an existing account of postwar art, the exhibition makes visible how differently that history can be mapped when other movements, encounters and geographies come into view.

We are especially pleased to see Shizuko Yoshikawa (1934–2019) enter this constellation with two works spanning more than three decades of her practice.

From the opening at Mudam, 24 September 2026.

Kaihō — Japanese Women Artists after 1945
25 September 2026 – 14 February 2027
Mudam Luxembourg

MudamLuxembourg

23/09/2026

Japanese Women Artists after 1945 🇯🇵
For the first time in Europe, a major exhibition brings together the groundbreaking work of Japanese women artists and explores their vital role in shaping global postwar art.
From the 1950s to the 1990s, artists including Shizuko Yoshikawa, Atsuko Tanaka, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Fujiko Nakaya, Tomie Ohtake, Taeko Tomiyama and Yoshiko Shimada challenged conventions and developed radical new forms of artistic expression across Japan and beyond.
Spanning Gutai, video art and transnational artistic practices, Japanese Women Artists after 1945 shines a light on stories and contributions that have too often been overlooked in the history of modern art.
Organised by Mudam in collaboration with Lenbachhaus Munich and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Shizuko Yoshikawa in front of the Tsuda Library in Tokyo, 1956. Photo © Shizuko
Yoshikawa und Josef Müller-Brockmann Stiftung

Shizuko Yoshikawa, fs70 farbschatten, 1978/79 lacquer and acrylic colour on polyester,
150 x 150 x 6 cm. Photo: SIK-ISEA, Zürich (Philipp Hitz) © Shizuko Yoshikawa und Josef
Müller-Brockmann

Shizuko Yoshikawa, m763 my silk road – 116, 2010/2011, tempera and acrylic colour on
canvas, 67 x 198 cm. Photo: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka © Shizuko Yoshikawa
und Josef Müller-Brockmann Stiftung

18/06/2026

In 2024, the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection in Stuttgart acquired Shizuko Yoshikawa’s colour-shadow relief fs102 from the Foundation.

The artist’s exploration of structure, light and shadow is rooted, among other things, in her initial studies in architecture. In her artistic practice, Yoshikawa first addressed these themes through relief works in public spaces. For the 1972 art-in-architecture project at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Zurich-Höngg, she worked with wood and concrete in pieces such as four possible progressions and negative and positive.

“Light falling on the entirely transformed surface highlights the relief graphically, while also casting shadows on the floor and wall. Relief and daylight thus create a sequence of ephemeral/constant figures through the projection of shadows in the seemingly static work” (Schaad, 2018).

From 1974 onwards, Yoshikawa found in her polyester reliefs—composed of offset elements at varying heights—a suitable format to further investigate the phenomenon of reflected light through free-standing wall objects and a subjective use of colour. The farbschatten (colour-shadow) series also includes numerous painterly works.

Founded in 1977, the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection is one of Europe’s leading corporate art collections, comprising around 3,000 works of international art from the 20th and 21st centuries. The Foundation is delighted that, through this acquisition, Shizuko Yoshikawa now joins the more than 800 artists represented in the collection.

Special thanks to Dr. Anne Vieth, Curator & Head of Mercedes-Benz Art Collection

Shizuko Yoshikawa
fs102 farbschatten, 1977–1980
Relief, lacquer and acrylic on polyester
Photo © syjmb.foundation

30/04/2026

The relief fs61 farbschatten (color shadow), acquired in January 2026 by the with funds from the Canton of Aargau, belongs to Shizuko Yoshikawa’s significant body of work known as the Farbschattenreliefs (color shadow reliefs), to which she dedicated herself between 1976 and 1985.

The artist had previously explored the interplay of light and shadow in outdoor relief works before turning to “smaller-scale reliefs as a format to visualize a series of states concerning potential dependencies in visually variable colored light mosaics” (Schaad, 2018). Using vertically offset polyester elements, she sought to make the subtle colours of reflected light visible without eliminating them through mutual absorption. Through the playful arrangement of individual units and varying movement patterns, the reliefs form topological, crystalline surfaces, from which “the artist derives an autonomous law of color organization in a light and color space” (Schaad, 2018).

Shizuko Yoshikawa’s color shadows were first exhibited in 1978 in her country of origin, at Minami Gallery in Tokyo, where they received extensive coverage in renowned art journals.

With over 21,000 works, the Aargauer Kunsthaus holds the most comprehensive public collection of Swiss art from the 18th century to the present day. The Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation is delighted that, with this acquisition, Yoshikawa’s work has become part of this important collection.

Image credit:
Shizuko Yoshikawa
fs61 farbschatten, 1979
Relief, lacquer and acrylic on polyester
Photo: SIK-ISEA, Zurich (Philipp Hitz)

16/04/2026

The painting m454 kosmische Gewebe – fliessend 7, acquired in autumn 2025 by the Kunstverein Winterthur for the foundation, belongs to the extensive series kosmische Gewebe, to which Shizuko Yoshikawa devoted herself from 1991 throughout the entire decade, exploring a wide range of compositions.

The work combines the format of a tondo (a circular painting) with orthogonal stripes and shows formal references to the Relational Paintings of Zurich Concrete artist Fritz Glarner (1899–1972).

In 1996, the kosmische Gewebe series ultimately gave its title to Shizuko’s major solo exhibition at the Contemporary Sculpture Center in Tokyo. Already at the beginning of this highly productive decade, the artist was awarded the prestigious Camille Graeser Foundation Art Prize in 1992.

The Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann Foundation is delighted that this work has been included in the public art collection of the Kunstmuseum Winterthur.

Shizuko Yoshikawa, m454 kosmische Gewebe – fliessend 7, 1992–1995,
tempera and acrylic on canvas; photo: SIK-ISEA, Zurich (Philipp Hitz)

06/03/2026

In the series puls 1–13 (2008–2011) and lebenspuls (2011–2013), Shizuko Yoshikawa further developed her geometric visual language. Small circles and squares are rhythmically distributed across the pictorial surface, creating a dynamic, almost pulsating movement – as seen here in SY, m777 puls 13 (m777 pulse 13), 2011, tempera and acrylic on canvas, 125 × 125 cm.
The colourful forms appear spontaneous and lively, yet follow a precise compositional structure. In later works of the series, Yoshikawa also experimented with larger formats and new pictorial divisions that evoke musical rhythms.

05/02/2026

In 1990, the gallery in Rapperswil was closed. However, Müller-Brockmann did not wish to give up gallery work entirely. Together with Shizuko Yoshikawa, he continued the gallery under the name galerie bergstrasse in their home and studio at Bergstrasse 15 in Unterengstringen, now on a more modest scale. Due to renovations to the house, the reopening did not take place until May 1992, once again with a group exhibition of women artists.

Entitled Concrete and Constructive Women Artists, the exhibition featured Else Burckhardt-Blum, Rita Ernst, Marguerite Hersberger, Verena Loewensberg, Hedi Merten, Gudrun Piper, Nelly Rudin, Kiki Vices Vinci and Shizuko Yoshikawa. After a total of five exhibitions at Bergstrasse, the couple finally ended their gallery activities in the winter of 1993 following a solo exhibition by Karl Gerstner.

28/01/2026

As a designer, Josef Müller-Brockmann gained international recognition in the 1960s, particularly through his posters, and further established his influence as a pioneer of Swiss graphic design through his work as a consultant.

One of his most iconic works is the poster “Weniger Lärm (Less Noise)” from 1960, created for the Swiss Committee for Noise Abatement.

It exemplifies his design philosophy: maximum expression with minimal means, achieved through a masterfully balanced and precise composition.

17/01/2026

Schnappschuss aus dem Jahr 1962
Shizuko Yoshikawa mit Camille Graeser im ✨

Camille Graeser (1892–1980) war einer der bedeutendsten Schweizer Künstler der konkreten Kunst und zählt zu den zentralen Vertretern der geometrisch-abstrakten Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts.

Nach seiner Emigration in die Schweiz 1933 entwickelte er seinen Stil konsequent weiter. Gemeinsam mit Max Bill und Richard Paul Lohse prägte er die Bewegung der Zürcher Konkreten entscheidend.

08/01/2026

Installation view at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka — exactly one year ago, from the exhibition

Space In-Between: Shizuko Yoshikawa and Josef Müller-Brockmann.

The series my silk road (1998–2011) draws on Yoshikawa’s experiences with cosmic webs, as well as the light of sun and moon in the winter skies above Rome. At the same time, the title is a poetic reference to the Far East and to the ancient Silk Road — a network that carried not only goods, but also ideas, people, and knowledge between East and West.

For Yoshikawa, the Silk Road became a metaphorical journey back to Japan. After years of travelling through Europe and the Middle East, she turned inward and eastward, transforming memories of movement, landscape, and light into a deeply personal visual language.

(L) m688 ‘my silk road’ – 54, 2005

(R) m685 ‘my silk road’ – 51, 2005

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Adresse

Selnaustrasse 25
Zürich

Website

http://www.syjmb.foundation/

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