Portland Art Museum to show first major exhibition of Yoshida Chizuko

(SEPTEMBER 25, 2025) The Portland Art Museum will open the first major exhibition of Japanese painter and printmaker Yoshida Chizuko this fall. The show, which begins on September 27, 2025, will include about 100 works, many of which have never been seen by the public before. It will run through January 4, 2026.

Yoshida Chizuko (1924–2017) was a pioneering modern artist in Japan. Her work changed over six decades, moving from abstract paintings in the 1940s and 1950s to bright, colorful Op art in the 1960s and 1970s, and later to images inspired by nature. The exhibition will also look at her role as a woman artist in mid-20th century Japan and her place within the famous Yoshida family of artists.

The show will feature paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and rare mixed-media works. Almost 80 of these pieces come from a new acquisition by the museum from the Yoshida family estate. This makes the museum’s collection of 20th-century Japanese prints one of the strongest in the United States.

“Yoshida Chizuko’s career was groundbreaking, but too often overlooked,” said Jeannie Kenmotsu, curator of Asian Art at the museum. “She was one of the most experimental artists of her generation, and her work deserves to be recognized on the international stage.”

Chizuko also supported other women artists. In 1956, she helped start the Women Printmakers Association in Tokyo, which gave opportunities to women in the graphic arts. Through her leadership, she influenced both her peers and younger generations of artists.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with essays from scholars and artists, including Chizuko’s daughter, Ayomi Yoshida. For the first time, the catalogue will also provide a complete timeline of her artistic career.

The Portland Art Museum, located in downtown Portland, is the largest art museum between Seattle and San Francisco. It is currently undergoing a major renovation, including the new Mark Rothko Pavilion, which will open in 2025.