The Imperial Family admires Folon's works in Tokyo

The imperial family receives explanations on the works of Jean-Michel Folon (Photo: Pool/Jiji Press/ABACAPRESS.COM)

Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, visited the exhibition dedicated to Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon. The exhibition is an exceptional retrospective of the Belgian artist, presented in the Tokyo Station Gallery.

Retrospective of Jean-Michel Folon’s works in Tokyo

Emperor Naruhito, 64, Empress Masako, 60, and their only daughter, Princess Aiko, 22, had planned a cultural visit for Monday, September 9. The Tokyo Station Exhibition Gallery, which hosts several major exhibitions throughout the year, is currently exhibiting a retrospective of Folon’s works. This is the fifth time that Folon’s works have been exhibited in Japan and already the second time since his death in 2005.

Jean-Michel Folon is one of the most famous Belgian artists, known for his watercolor illustrations and sculptures. His best-known works feature recurring motifs of arrows, labyrinths, cities and, of course, his hatted men. The artist has produced numerous engravings, paintings and illustrations that appear on advertising objects or design objects, stamps and even theater sets. In France, he is known to all viewers for having drawn the credits for the Antenne 2 channel, representing flying figures, broadcast between 1975 and 1983.

During Belgium's economic mission to Japan, Princess Astrid, sister of King Philippe, inaugurated a photography exhibition showing Jean-Michel Folon at work. "Folon's approach seems in line with the criteria of Japanese aesthetics: the search for simplicity through an economy of means, delicacy, melancholy, the primacy of nature and the representation of the landscape," explains the Folon Foundation.

Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and Princess Aiko admire a statuette of Folon's Man with a Hat at the exhibition dedicated to him at the Tokyo Station Gallery (Photo: Pool/Jiji Press/ABACAPRESS.COM)

This Monday, Emperor Naruhito, his wife and their daughter were able to admire the 230 works that are exhibited in Tokyo in the exhibition entitled “Folon: Agency of Imaginary Journeys”. This is a traveling exhibition, on view in the gallery of Tokyo Station until September 23. It will then join a museum in Nagoya from January to March 2025, then Osaka from April to June.

“The exhibition is based on a series of questions that find their sources in the works to challenge the public on extremely current issues,” explains the Folon Foundation. “The Folon Foundation was very sensitive to this approach that shakes up conventions, places the artist in the contemporaneity, recalls the battles he fought throughout his career and addresses young people with hope.”

Nicolas Fontaine