The Tsubaki-kai artists' exhibition group was created in 1947 to mark the post-war reopening of the Shiseido Gallery. The name “Tsubaki” comes from the Japanese word for “camellia,” the flower that has long been the symbol of the Shiseido. (“Kai” means “gathering” or “circle.”) In the decades since, the Tsubaki-kai exhibitions have become one of the Gallery's most popular and representative activities. The membership of the group has changed with each iteration over its nearly seventy years, and as of the 2010 conclusion of the Sixth Tsubaki-kai a total of eighty artists have participated.

This year, a new group of five artists will come together to start the Seventh Tsubaki-kai: Genpei Akasegawa, Naoya Hatakeyama, Rei Naito, Zon Ito, and Ryoko Aoki. Exhibitions by these artists will begin this year and continue over the course of the next five years.

The exhibition subtitle, “Shoshin,” will be a theme pursued by the artists of the Seventh Tsubaki-kai over the next five years. According to the New Shinmeikai Kokugo Jiten (Sanseido), the phrase “initial spirit” (“shoshin” in Japanese) refers to that purity of thought and feeling occurring when one first sets out to do something new. The arts-wise 14th century Noh actor and playwright Zeami explained the expression “keep an initial spirit” as maintaining, throughout all the stages of life, that same spirit of challenge first experienced when first taking up a new endeavor. In the wake of such an unexpected disaster as the recent earthquake, the process of picking up the pieces and moving forward has furnished these new Tsubaki-kai members with an opportunity to reconsider questions like what an initial spirit means, and what their reasons have been for creating things, and this mutual awareness among all of the members led them to select this as the theme for their coming exhibitions.

In these exhibitions, each artist will be addressing this theme of the initial spirit, working with the others in creating and displaying works offering their current artistic responses to it. We hope you will look forward to the Tsubaki-kai Exhibitions soon to come from this newest iteration of the Tsubaki-kai.

Coutesy of Shiseido Gallery 

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© Naoya HATAKEYAMA