Picture of Woman

Born in Kagoshima in 1897, Seiji moved to Tokyo while he was still young and after graduating from Aoyama Gakuin high school, he studied art under ARISHIMA Ikuma. In 1916, his first entry to the Nikaten (Second Division Society) Exhibition, a work in the Futurist style, was accepted and this caused quite a sensation. In 1921, he went to study in Europe where he came into contact with Duchamp and Tristan Tzara, he also visited Filippo Tommaso Marinetti of the Futurists in Italy and was made most welcome. Upon his return to Japan, he exhibited the works he had produced in Europe at the Nikaten Exhibition and was made a member of the Nika Society. After the war, he worked to reestablish the Nika Society and became its leader.
TOGO Seiji’s pictures of women, with their soft coloring, became popular in post-war Japan, but the work shown here dates from the early thirties, before he had established the so-called ‘Togo style’. It was from around the end of the twenties that women in Western garb, known as ‘modern girls’, first made an appearance in Japan and in this work we see a sophisticated woman wearing a hat, black gloves and a white dress standing in front of a background consisting of geometric shapes. It is typical of his refined style of work, reflecting his childhood in the capital and his acquaintance with European avant-garde artists.