Eloge de la Lumiere

This catalogue documents an exhibition at the Baur Foundation that brings together work by the French painter Pierre Soulages (b.1919) and the Japanese master bamboo artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (b. 1973). Soulages, still working at 102 years old, has painted almost exclusively in black since 1979 and is known as the \"master of luminous blacks\". Tanabe Chikuunsai IV is a renowned bamboo artist, known for his twisting organic sculptures and room-sized installations made from tiger or black bamboo. The aim of this exhibition is to explore how their work resonates, despite different approaches, in the dark and light effects of their materials.

Text in French and English.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Baur Foundation in Switzerland, a museum of Far Eastern Art, from November 2021–March 2022.

50 colour illustrations

About the Author

A graduate of the Ecole du Louvre and holder of a doctorate from Paris IV Sorbonne, Laure Schwartz-Arenales began her career at the Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet and at the Ecole du Louvre, where she taught Far Eastern arts. Her research on ancient Japanese painting, carried out since 1998 in Japan (University of Tohoku - Kyoto National Museum), was rewarded in 2007 by the Kajima Foundation for the Arts. Professor at Ochanomizu University and then at Sophia University (Tokyo), she has been director of the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva since 2018.