Shigeki Kitani
Oni 1 (Demon 1), 1963
Oil, ink, and paper on canvas
31½ x 39¼ inches

One of our participants, Thomsen Gallery, will be part of TEFAF Online New York 2020, the art fair’s new digital platform. Each exhibitor will present one masterpiece.

Shigeki Kitani (1928-2009) was a leading Japanese avant-garde artist associated for 15 years with the influential Gutai collective.

Kitani's 2015 retrospective exhibition at the Thomsen gallery featured 28 works from the 1950s and early 1960s, many of them never exhibited before, which demonstrated Kitani's mastery of a gritty yet lyrical abstraction. Of the 28 works in the exhibition, 19 were preserved for many years at the Museum of Art and History in Ashiya City, birthplace of Gutai.

A fully illustrated publication, with an essay by the artist's son and his first detailed biography, is available from the gallery.