Japanese informal art in Paris: the “Avant-Gardes Japon, l’Après 1950” exhibition

From November 13 to December 20, 2025, the Nichido gallery in Paris hosts a rare exhibition highlighting the impact of the informal movement on post-war Japanese art.

In the heart of Paris’s 8th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, galerie Nichido presents a singular exhibition: Avant-Gardes Japon, l’Après 1950. This second Parisian edition brings together nearly 40 works by major figures of the Japanese avant-garde, from Toshimitsu Imai to Aiko Miyawaki, via Shu Tanaka and Yasse Tabuchi. A plunge into a post-World War II Japan in the throes of rebuilding its identity.

The exhibition looks back at a pivotal period for Japanese artists. In the 1950s, Japan was still licking the wounds of a devastating world conflict, and artists were looking for new forms of expression to convey the chaos, loss and impetus for renewal. It was against this backdrop that the works of French art critic Michel Tapié, and his concept ofArt informel, provoked a veritable aesthetic shock.

The shock of Western Informal Art in Japan

The concept ofArt Informel, developed by Michel Tapié, advocates painting freed from figurative constraints. Raw material, spontaneous gesture and radical abstraction are at the heart of this approach. In 1956, a collection of informal Western works was presented in Japan, upsetting local artists who had long been isolated from the rest of the art world by war and American occupation.

This ” informal shock ” was to be deeply absorbed by the Japanese art scene. In the Japanese media, expressions such as ” Informal Whirlwind ” or ” Informal Typhoon ” bear witness to this cultural shockwave. Artists such as Shingo Kusuda and Tsuyoshi Maekawa integrated these codes, giving them a depth of their own, imbued with their personal and national history.

Independent voices in the informal tide

The Paris exhibition doesn’t just show an adherence to the Western movement. It also highlights those who resisted this dominant trend. Akira Tanaka, for example, persists in his figurative approach. He seeks to represent what he calls the ” Authentic Man “, observed in the streets, unmasked, in a changing society.

This dialogue between foreign influences and fidelity to a deep-rooted Japanese sensibility makes this exhibition particularly rich. It is not a simple imitation of the West, but a reinvention of abstraction through a Japanese prism.

Why does this exhibition deserve the attention of Parisians?

Paris, the city of modern art par excellence, is the perfect place to revisit this little-known history. Galerie Nichido, with roots in Tokyo, Paris, Nagoya and Fukuoka, plays an essential role in the dissemination of Japanese art in France. The dialogue between art scenes is palpable here.

For lovers of contemporary art, this exhibition offers an essential look at the genesis of a major aesthetic movement in Japan. For the curious, it’s an opportunity to discover artists little known in France, but essential to understanding the second half of the 20th century in Asian art.

Finally, for Parisians, it’s an excellent opportunity to rediscover a part of the world’s artistic history, without leaving the capital.