Lecture by Hiroyuki Uchiro, Chief Curator of the Pola Museum of Art, "Memento Mori: Tsuguharu Foujita and Religious Paintings"
Image: Altar inside the chapel with the Virgin and Child painted on the wall, 1966, Reims. Vue de l'abside de la chapelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix à Reims, Léonard Foujita (1966) © Ville de Reims / photo: Corentin Le Goff
overview
To further enhance your enjoyment of the currently running exhibition " Reims Museum Collection: From Tsuguharu Foujita to Léonard Foujita - The Path to Prayer, " this time we will focus on the religious paintings that Foujita created and explore their appeal.
Tsuguharu Foujita, who is thought to have been influenced by Christianity since the 1910s, was baptized as a Catholic in 1959 at the age of 72. Throughout his life, and particularly in the approximately ten years from his baptism until his death in 1968, he produced many paintings with Christian themes.
In this lecture, we will consider the messages that Fujita put into his religious paintings, while keeping in mind the idea of memento mori*.
*"Memento mori" is Latin for "remember death," and is a philosophy that recognizes the inevitability of human death and reflects on the transience of life. In the history of art, skulls, hourglasses, and withered flowers were used as symbols from the Middle Ages to the Baroque period, and in contemporary art these themes continue to question the meaning of "death" and "life."
Date and Time
Saturday, November 8, 2025
14:00-15:30 (scheduled)
place
Salon Le Damier at Karuizawa Ando Museum of Art
Instructor Profile
Hiroyuki Uchiro, Chief Curator, Pola Museum of Art
After dropping out of the doctoral program at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2001, he became a curator at the Pola Museum of Art, Pola Art Foundation (public interest incorporated foundation) (until 2013). From 2014, he became a conservator and curator at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Kanazawa Art Creation Foundation (public interest incorporated foundation) (until 2018). He is currently the chief curator at the Pola Museum of Art. His specialties are the conservation and restoration of artworks, the history of modern and contemporary art, and research on Tsuguharu Foujita.
His major exhibitions include "Léonard Foujita: My Paris, My Atelier" (2011), "Fujita: A Journey into Color" (2021), and "New Japanese Painting" (2023). He has co-authored the books "More About Tsuguharu Foujita: His Life and Works" (2013), "Tsuguharu Foujita Art Collection" (2013), and "Cats and Tsuguharu Foujita" (2018).
About participation
Reservations are required for this lecture. Please select and reserve your event ticket by clicking the "Book Tickets" button at the bottom of the page.
・For those with a museum admission ticket (for the day): Admission to the lecture is free (however, reservations are required)
・For those attending only the lecture: Participation fee: 1,000 yen (payable at the reception on the day)
Payment methods: We accept various methods including cash, credit card, barcode payment, and IC card.
🎁All attendees of the lecture will receive a free postcard!
*Registration will close once capacity is reached.
*More details will be announced on the official website and social media.