Kanda Nissho was born in 1937 in the Nerima district in Tokyo. When he was seven, his family moved to the Tokachi district in Hokkaido to work the farmland there. Raised in the hard, unfamiliar life of a settler’s family, he eventually became a farmer himself. At the same time, he came to put his heart into painting. His powerful works depicting scenes of daily life, each brushstroke imbued with his soul, gradually gained acclaim in the art world. However, in 1970, just when he was beginning to develop new modes of expression, he died of illness at the age of 32.
This exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of Nissho’s death, 42 years after his last major retrospective exhibition. It shows the full range of his achievements, bringing together all his representative paintings. The exhibition also incorporates recent scholarship to present a wider view of Nissho’s world, including paintings by Nissho’s contemporaries which show how he was inspired by the art movements of his day.