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)
