Biography

Leiko Ikemura grew up in Japan, close to the seaside, to which she established a strong connection that is clearly reflected in her later works, and studied Spanish literature at the University of Foreign Languages in Osaka.

In 1972, she immigrated to Spain to continue her studies in Salamanca and Granada. In parallel, and mainly thanks to a friendship with a sculptor, she started working on sculpture herself. Between 1973 and 1978, she studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Seville.

Following her many journeys across Europe, she finally moved to Zürich in 1979. In Switzerland, Ikemura left her first visible mark on the artistic scene of Zürich of the early 1980s. During the same period, her works were exhibited for the first time at the Bonner Kunstverein modern art exhibition centre. Following an invitation by the city in 1983, the artist spent nine months drawing scenes of Nuremberg, afterwards presenting her works during an individual exhibition at Kunsthalle Nürnberg that attracted a great deal of attention.

In 1985, Cologne became the centre of her life and work, and later she grew equally attached to Berlin. She permanently settled in the German capital in 2013. Between 1991 and 2015, she lectured at the Berlin University of the Arts as a professor of painting, and since 2014 she has been working as a lecturer at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Kanagawa, Japan.

Her works have been exhibited individually by museums and institutions all around the world, including the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee (1999), the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Toyota (2002), Museum of Art in Liechtenstein, Vaduz (2002), the Kunsthalle Recklinghausen (2004), the Ulmer Museum (2006), the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo (2011), the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (2013), and the Asian Art Museum in Cologne (2015/2016). In 2019, The National Art Center, Tokyo and Kunstmuseum Basel showed the most comprehensive retrospective so far.

Works

Documents

Publications

born in Tsu, prefecture Mie, Japan

1970-1972 studied spanish literature in Osaka and since 1972 in Salamanca

1973-1978 studied painting at Scuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungaria, Sevilla

1985 moved to Cologne

1991-2015 professor for painting at the Berlin University of the Arts, Germany

since 2014 Professor at the Joshibi University of Art and Design, Kanagawa, Japan

lives and works in Berlin

Grants and Awards

2019

Art Encouragement Prize of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan

2014

Sparda Art Prize NRW, Hasen-Tempel, Recklinghausen, Germany

Cologne Fine Art Prize, Germany

2013

JaDe-Award, Cologne

2009

August- Macke- Award

2007

Artist in residence, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, New Haven

Iserlohner art award of the foundation Sparkasse Iserlohn

2001

award of the critics ‘Bildende Kunst’, Verband der deutschen Kritiker e.V., Berlin

Artist in residence, deWillem3, Vlissingen

1996/98

ekwc – european ceramic workcentre, ´s-Hertogenbosch

1988

jury-award – International ‘Triennale für Originalgraphik’, Grenchen

1983-84

Stadtzeichnerin (artist of the city) in Nürnberg

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2020

Leiko Ikemura, Von Ost nach Ost, Kunsthalle Rostock

2019

Leiko Ikemura, 土と星 Our Planet. Earth & Stars, The National Art Center, Tokyo

Leiko Ikemura. Nach neuen Meeren, Kunstmuseum Basel

2018

Leiko Ikemura in conversation with Donata and Wim Wenders, Stiftung Brandenburger Tor, Max Liebermann Haus, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura. Female Genesis, Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Gladbeck

2017

Leiko Ikemura. Märchenwald, Deutsches Keramikmuseum Hetjens, Düsseldorf

Ikemura und Nolde, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop

Leiko Ikemura, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco

No No Noh. Leiko Ikemura im Dialog mit ausgewählten Werken der Sammlung Diethard Leopold, BE International Fine Art, Vienna

Leiko Ikemura. Märchenwald, Deutsches Keramikmuseum Hetjens, Düsseldorf

Leiko Ikemura, ShugoArts Tokyo, Japan

2016

Leiko Ikemura. …und plötzlich dreht der Wind. Haus am Waldsee, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura und Paula Modersohn-Becker. Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura. Mindscape. Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

Leiko Ikemura. Poetics of Form. Nevada Museum of Art, Reno (Nevada)

2015

Leiko Ikemura. Galerie Mirchandani + Steinrücke, Mumbai

Prelude: Leiko Ikemura – ein Dialog mit Utagawa Hiroshige. Haus am Waldsee, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura. All About Girls and Tigers. Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Cologne

2014

Zwischenwelten, Altana Kulturstiftung, Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe

Leiko Ikemura & Odilon Redon, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura, Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Luzern

Leiko Ikemura. PIOON, The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima

2013

LEIKO IKEMURA. i-migration, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe

Leiko Ikemura, Hilfiker Kunstprojekte, Luzern

Leiko Ikemura. Sueño de árboles rojos, Poligrafa Obra Grafica, Barcelona

Leiko Ikemura. oro y plata, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne

2012

Beyond the Lake, mit einem Bild von Ferdinand Hodler, Galerie Haas, Zürich

Korekara oder die Heiterkeit des fragilen Seins, Museum für Asiatische Kunst –

Museen Dahlem, Berlin

Mare et Monti, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne

Silver Flame, ShugoArts, Tokyo

2011

Leiko Ikemura: Transfiguration, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Leiko Ikemura, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan

Wußtest du, ich habe zwei versteckte Flügel, Burg Wissem, Museum Troisdorf

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve. Paris

Leiko Ikemura: Flame and Fire, Galerie Priska Pasquer. Cologne

2010

Leiko Ikemura, August-Macke-Preis Ausstellung, Sauerland-Museum Arnsberg

face scape, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne

Asuka, Loock Galerie, Berlin

2009

ME ZA ME, ShugoArts, Tokyo

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Jirí Svestka, Prague

2008

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin

Tag, Nacht und Halbmond, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve, St. Moritz

La Notte, Galerie Tony Wuethrich, Basel

2007

Leiko Ikemura. Iserlohner Kunstpreis“, Villa Wessel, Iserlohn

Zwischenräume, Leiko Ikemura und Günther Förg, Langen Foundation, Neuss

Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne

2006

u mi no ko, The Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Mishima

Pacific, ShugoArts, Tokyo

Andalusienbilder, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn

Leiko Ikemura, The Bill Lowe Art Gallery, Atlanta

2005

Mars Mother, Kunst-Station St. Peter, Cologne

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris

Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Ulmer Museum

Leiko Ikemura – remember little boys, Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin

Leiko Ikemura. Sculptures, Paintings, Works on Paper, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne

2004

Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern

beach girls, Galerie Tony Wuethrich, Basel

Leiko Ikemura, Skulptur-Malerei-Zeichnung, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen

madre mare, Shugoarts, Tokyo

Isola. Gallery HAM, Nagoya

2003

Madre Mare, Galeria Luis Serpa, Lisbon

2002

Ozean – ein Projekt, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

vom Ozean, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne

Leiko Ikemura. Les années lumière – Lichtjahre, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne

Leiko Ikemura, Galerie Haas und Fuchs, Berlin

2000

beyond the horizon, Toyota Munincipal Museum of Art, Toyota

Le Rire Silencieux de Miko, Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris

The memory of innocence, Morat-Institut, Freiburg

1999

Yet there is light on the horizon, Melbourne International Biennal, Japan Pavillon, Melbourne

Leiko Ikemura. ceramics + drawings, Art Affairs, Amsterdam

Leiko Ikemura: Migrations; Sculpture and Paintings, The Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee

Yet there is light on the horizon, Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne

Leiko Ikemura, Photographie und Malerei, Haus der Kultur, Waldkraiburg

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018

PAINTING still ALIVE… On the way to modernity, Centre of Contemporary Art, Toruń/Poland

Das Lied der Dinge. Stilleben im Wandel der Kunst, Museum für Aktuelle Kunst – Sammlung Hurrle Durbach

Redon and his World. Beyond Imagination, The Pola Museum of Art, Hakone, Japan

From the 1980s to the 2010s, ShougoArts, Tokyo, Japan

Leiko Ikemura im Dialog mit Donata und Wim Wenders, Stiftung Brandenburg Tor / Liebermann

Haus, Berlin

The Collection of the Takamatsu Art Museum + In Spilling Light with Chuta Kimura, Takamatsu Art Museum, Shikoku

Ausstellung zum Prix de Dessin, Fondation Daniel & Florence Guerlain Paris

2017‬

A Trip through the Tokyo Station Gallery Collection. From Railway Art to Picasso, Tokyo Station Gallery, Tokyo

jung und wild. Die 1980er Jahre in München, Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich

BERLIINI >>> NASTOLA, Taarasti art centre, Nastola, Finland ‬

Ikemura & Nolde, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Ostseebad Ahrenshoop

Wetterbericht. Über Wetterkultur und Klimawissenschaft, Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn

Schlaf. Eine produktive Zeitverschwendung, Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, Bremen

2016

Painter of Poetry, Poet of the Picture. Himeji City Museum of Art Hyogo; Ahsikaga Museum of Art Tochigi; Hakodate Museum of Art Hokkaido

Ceramix – Art et Céramique de Rodin à Schütte, La Maison Rouge Paris

Sein. Antlitz. Körper – Kirchen öffnen sich der Kunst, Dome Berlin

Donations – Florence & Daniel Guerlain, Collection Centre Pompidou at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark

Sharing as Caring no.5/ Beyond Documentation, Kunstverein Heidelberg

All living things. Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, Japan

Ready for the Stage / Act 1 (1900 – 2016), Arp Museum, Remagen

Тhe 56th October Salon „The Pleasure of Love“, Belgrad

Kumo no ito, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan

2015

Ce qui je suis maintenant. Ein Zimmer für Alfred Flechtheim, Osthaus Museum, Hagen

Koelnskulptur #8 – Sculpture Parc Cologne

Rohkunstbau XXI. Apokalypse, Berlin

The Red Thread – On Structures in Narration, Kolumba Museum, Cologne

Ceramix. Ceramic art from Gauguin to Schütte, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht

Einfühlung und Abstraktion. Die Moderne der Frauen in Deutschland, Kunsthalle Bielefeld

Gute Kunst? Wollen! Auf AEG, Nuremberg

St. Moritz Art Masters 2015, St. Moritz

How We Appear, and Where Life Takes Us 100 Years of the Town and 20 Years of the Museum Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota Aichi Japan

Tiere Schauen, Hegenbarth Sammlung Berlin, Berlin

Painter of Poetry, Poet of the Picture, SHONAN – The Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Hiratsuka, Japan

Schön, Euch zu sehen. 160 Werke aus der Sammlung, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

2014

JapanArtToday, Kunsthaus Interlaken

BLÜTEZEIT, ART FOYER, Frankfurt am Main

Das flüssige Element. Seestücke des 17. und 21. Jahrhunderts, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop

ON & ON & ON, Kunstgruppe, Cologne

Macht.Wahn.Vision. Rapunzel & Co. Von Türmen und Menschen in der Kunst, Arp Museum, Remagen

Stock One, Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel

Distant Observations. Fukushima in Berlin, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin

Gallery Artists Show, ShugoArts, Tokyo, Japan

Verwundung und Zuflucht. Werke aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Küefer-Martis-Huus, Ruggell, Liechtenstein

PAPER I CARTRO, GALERIA KEWENIG, Palma de Mallorca

LOVE AIDS RIOT SEX 2, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin

Künstlerräume, GALERIE KARSTEN GREVE, Cologne

37th International Symposium: Reconsidering ‘Form’, Tobunken: Nat. Research Inst. f. Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Japan

2013

Gebrannte Erde, Gerich Stiftung Neumünster

Von Japanismus zu Zen. Paul Klee und der Ferne Osten, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

Landschaft nach 2000, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, Osnabrück

Macht/Wahn/Vision – Der Turm und urbane Giganten, Museum im Deutschhof, Heilbronn

Donation Florence et Daniel Guerlain, Centre Pompidou – Musée National d´Art Moderne, Paris

Eine Art Salon. Curated by Marion Piffer Damiani, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Vienna

Rational + Emotional, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Leiko Ikemura. Los Espantos, GALERIA KEWENIG, Palma de Mallorca

ART IN BERLIN 1945 UNTIL NOW, Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art Berlin

Painting Forever! Keilrahmen, KW Institute for Contemporary Art KUNST-WERKE BERLIN MOMAT Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

All Kinds of Ceramics – 20 Years of the Artist in Residence Program, Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan

kjubh, Kunstverein Köln – Editionen 2003 – 2013″ zu Gast im oqbo Berlin, Galerie oqbo, Berlin

ZigZag / Leporello / Harmonica books / 화첩 : Hua Chup / おりほん: Ori-Hon, Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart

Schöne Landschaft – Bedrohte Natur. SØR Rusche Sammlung, Kunsthalle Osnabrück

MOMAT Collection, The National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, Japan

20 Jahre Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Tony Wuethrich Galerie, Basel

Koelnskulptur 7, Skulpturenpark Cologne

Japanese Modern Arts and Western Arts / Women Artists from the Collection, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan

The ShugoArts Show, ShugoArts, Tokyo

JaDe Prize 2013 Winner Award Ceremony, The Japan Foundation, Cologne

Landscapes (1872 – 2012), Galerie Haas AG, Zürich

Traumwelten, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin

2012

Beyond Memory, Museum of the Seam, Jerusalem, Israel

Innovationen in der Kunst der Schweiz, Kunsthaus Interlaken

DOKI DOKI, Museum of Contemporary Cramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan

Art as Magic, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan

2011

Rising with the sun, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

Fukushima and the consequences, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Mit Feuer und Flamme, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot

2010

Plastic Artists and their Grafik Work, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

Innocence – Art towards Live, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts

Noli me tangere!, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne

Expanding Art, Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan

Japanese Art 1950-2010, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan

Asuka. Leiko Ikemura/Philipp von Matt, Loock Galerie, Berlin

2009

Lying, Standing and Leaning, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

100 Jahre Hetjens Museum. Faszination des Fremden: China-Japan-Europa, Hetjens Museum, Düsseldorf

Emotional Drawing, SOMA Museum of Art, Seoul

2008

A Perspective on Contemporary Art 6: Emotional Drawing, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokio and The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

Inner Light, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan

spot on 02: Die Würde des Körpers. Bilder uns Skulpturen aus der Sammlung Hanck, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

2007

Fiction for the Real, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Zwischenräume, Leiko Ikemura & Günther Förg, Langen Foundation, Neuss

Der unendliche Raum dehnt sich aus, KOLUMBA Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne

2006

Berlin-Tokio _Tokio-Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin

2005

The World is a stage. Stories behind Pictures, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Asian Potential. Art Nursed by Sea and Islands, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art,

Nagoya, Japan

2004

1. Biennale der Zeichnung, Kunstverein Eislingen

2003

Himmelschwer – Transformationen der Schwerkraft,

Landesmuseum Johanneum & Minoriten Kultur, Graz

2002

Dasein – Existence, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

Bella Vista, Kunst Meran, Italy

2001

Kabinett der Zeichnung, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart

VISION, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan

Terra!Terra!, CESAC, Caraglio, Italy

2000

Visage: Painting and the Human Face in 20th Century Art, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokio and The National Muaeum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

1999

Why make prints, Museo National da la Estampa, Mexico (Venezuela, Columbia, San José)

Noontime Meditation, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi, Japan

KölnSkulptur 2, Skulpturenpark Cologne

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