Yanagase Gallery
I visited “Yanagase Gallery,” located in the Yanagase area near Gifu Station.
Morikazu Kumagai, an artist whose reputation rose even higher thanks to the exhibition at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, was a painter from Gifu.
https://art-on.jp/morikazu-kumagai-2018/
After leaving Gifu for Tokyo at the age of 17, he apparently had few chances to return, but it was the previous owner who, as a gallery in Kumagai’s hometown, built a relationship with him through an introduction from Saneatsu Mushanokoji.
The current owner was away, attending the opening of the National Museum of Modern Art’s touring exhibition held at the Museum of Art, Ehime. This time, the owner’s daughter kindly showed me around.
In the shop’s show window hung one of his signature works with the distinctive red outlines.
Yanagase Gallery also authenticates Morikazu Kumagai’s works, and it is said to be one of the most trusted galleries in Japan when you want to buy his work. They have reportedly handled about one-fifth of the surviving works by “Morikazu Kumagai,” so if you are considering purchasing a Kumagai, consulting this gallery might be a good idea.
This cat piece, which is also used on the direct-mail flyer, had already found a buyer.
Even though it is an SM (thumbhole size), the price is said to be about 50 million yen. As expected, among Kumagai’s works the cat pieces really do trade at special prices.
Even his early oil paintings gave a price impression of just under 10 million yen.
The atmosphere was more like talking with an art dealer than a gallery, and I left feeling that the threshold was rather high.
Overview
“A Gifu Gallery-Hopping Regular: Exhibition of Masterpieces by Morikazu Kumagai”
Dates: April 7 (Sat) – April 29 (Sun)
Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00 – 18:00
Venue: Yanagase Gallery (3-21 Yanagase-dori, Gifu City)
