Toshiko Okanoue, Photo Collage: The Miracle of Silence

Surrealism – as an artistic, intellectual and literary movement – experimented and tried to find ways of visualising the subconscious mind, quickly developing several techniques in both painting and photography. The movement spread throughout the world and was certainly felt in Japan. Japanese artist Toshiko Okanoue was exposed to the western surrealist tradition when she met Shuzo Takiguchi, the leader of the surrealist movement in Japan, in 1951. Influenced by the Collage Novel of Max Ernst, Okanoue developed her artistic skills through the use of photo collage. The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum will include works from Okanoue’s collection, introducing fragments and mementos of the society and fashion which reflect the era of a post-war revival.