Aiko Miyawaki is a Japanese artist born in Tokyo in 1929. She was a sensitive woman with a strong, determined character, focused on achieving her artistic goals. Her life was filled with significant encounters: Nobuya Abe and Yoshishige Saito in Japan, Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Lucio Fontana in Milan, Man Ray in Paris, and Sam Francis and Jasper Johns in New York.

Her career took off in 1957 at the Yoseido Gallery in Tokyo, but the pivotal moment came in Milan when Nobuya Abe introduced her to Enrico Baj. Miyawaki exhibited in numerous international galleries, including Galleria Minima in Milan (1961), Tokyo Gallery (1962), and André Schoeller Galerie in Paris (1962).

Aiko Miyawaki drew inspiration from minimalism, conceptualism, and the philosophy and aesthetics of East Asia. She began as a painter in the late 1950s, spending the next decade between Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and New York. After returning to Japan in 1966, she focused on sculpture, working with polished materials to explore the intersections of metaphysics, cosmology, and science.

After her show at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York in 1964, Miyawaki returned to Tokyo between 1965 and 1966. It was during this time that she started working on her brass tube sculptures, now being presented in a solo exhibition at Studio Gariboldi.
In 1966, during the “From Space to Environment” exhibition at the Matsuya Department Store in Ginza, she met renowned architect Arata Isozaki, who later became her husband. Isozaki, known for designing the skyscraper “Il Dritto” in Milan, shares a vision with Miyawaki’s works, especially in the affinity between the 209-meter-high building’s 24,000 sqm of facades and 4,500 glass cells and her artistic creations.

Miyawaki’s large outdoor sculptures are installed in museums around the world, including the Hakone Open-Air Museum, Biwako Ohashi Sculpture Plaza in Shiga, Plaza Tower and Town Center in Costa Mesa, California, the Olympic Ring in Barcelona, the esplanade of La Défense in Paris, and the Gori Collection in Santomato di Pistoia, Italy.
Since 1994, a series of her works can also be found in the new Nagi Contemporary Art Museum, designed by Arata Isozaki.

Aiko Miyawaki passed away in Tokyo in 2014.

Aiko Miyawaki, #14, 1966, Brass plates assembled with profiles. Internal lighting. © Studio Gariboldi

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
“Aiko Miyawaki. Sculpture 1966-1969”, Studio Gariboldi, Milan
2017, 2019
Seiho Gallery, Tokyo
2014
Museum Haus Kasuya, Yokosuka
2013
Toki no Wasuremono Gallery, Tokyo
2012
Toki no Wasuremono Gallery, Tokyo
Seiho Gallery, Tokyo
2004, 2006
Museum Haus Kasuya, Yokosuka
2001
Takaoka Art Museum, Takaoka
Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagi
1998
Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura
1996
Hara Museum of Art, Tokyo
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris
1994
Palac Sztuki, Krakow
1993
Saka Gallery, Tokyo
1991
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
1990
Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris
Galerie Art Défense, Paris
Saint-Guillaume Gallery, Tokyo
1987
Kanagawa Prefectural Hall Gallery, Yokohama
1986
Staempfli Gallery, New York
1985
Galerie Hosun, Tokyo
1984
Nishida Gallery, Nara
1983
Gallery Ueda Warehouse, Tokyo
1981
Mikimoto Hall, Tokyo
1980
Takagi Gallery, Nagoya
Seiho Gallery, Tokyo
1976
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan
1970
Museo Sztuki, Łódź
Galerie Pryzmat with the Krakow Artists’ Union, Poland
International Press Club, Warsaw
1969
Staempfli Gallery, New York
1967
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
1964
Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York
1962
Galerie André Schoeller, Paris
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
1961
Galleria Minima, Milan
1959
Yoseido Gallery, Tokyo

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
“MOT Collection”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
“Koichi Somaki x Aiko Miyawaki Exhibition”, Toki no Wasuremono Gallery, Tokyo
“Avant-Garde in Japan and Italy: International Dialogue of Artists in the 20th Century”, Fukuyama Museum of Art, Fukuyama
2023
“Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction (1940–70)”, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles
“MOMAT Collection”, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
“A Leap into the Void. Art Beyond Matter”, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy
“Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction (1940–70)”, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
“Images and Symbols: Rereading the Art in the 1960s”, The Museum of Modern Art Kamakura & Hayama, Kamakura Annex
2022
“Women of Influence”, The Mayor Gallery, London
“Repetitions”, The Mayor Gallery, London
“Avant-Gardes: Japon, L’après 1950”, Galerie Nichido, Paris
“Man Ray and the Women”, The Museum of Modern Art Kamakura & Hayama, Hayama
2021
“Asian Art in London”, The Mayor Gallery, London
“White: Abstract Exhibition”, The Mayor Gallery, London
2020
“Tokyo Gallery 70th Anniversary (Part 1)”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“Collection 1: Transgressing Lines”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
2019
“The essence of Japan unearthed? Unearthing the past, constructing the future”, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
2018
“The Myriad Forms of Visual Art: 196 Works with 19 Themes”, National Museum of Art, Osaka
“Takiguchi Shuzo Miyawaki Aiko ca.1960”, Art Office Ozasa, Kyoto
“1968. Art in the Turbulent Age”, Chiba City Museum of Art; Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art Annex; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art.
2016
“A Feverish Era: Art Informel and the Expansion of Japanese Artistic Expression in the 1950s and ’60s”, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
2014
“The Hara Museum Collection At 35”, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
“4 X 4”, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
“Metals!”, Takaoka Art Museum, Takaoka
2013
“The Narrators”, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
“Women Artists Exhibition. We will go beyond”, Takaoka Art Museum, Takaoka
2006
“Public Art in Japan”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo; The Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
2005
“Japanese Women Artists in Avant-garde Movements, 1950-1975”, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi
“Drifting Objects of Dreams: The Collection of Shuzo Takiguchi“, Setagaya Art Museum, Setagaya
2004
“Resounding Spirit. Japanese Contemporary Art of the 1960s: The Gibson Gallery Collection”, The Gibson Gallery, State University of New York at Potsdam
“New Tokyo Gallery Exhibition”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
2003
“Young Artists Surrounding Aiko Miyawaki’s Utsurohi”, Museum Haus Kasuya, Yokosuka
2002
“Here is the Museum, the scape collaborated with our collection, artists and you-The Encounter of our Collection and 4 Artists”, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, Shizuoka
2001
“Minami Keiko Aiko Miyawaki”, Takaoka Art Museum, Takaoka
1999
“Arcadia in Celle – Gori collection”, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura; Mie Prefectural Art Museum; Mori Art Museum
1998
“To and From Shuzo Takiguchi”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka
1997
“Japanese Art 1960s: Japanese Summer 1960-1964”, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki
“The World in Transition. Painting in Japan since 1945”, Takaoka Art Museum, Takaoka
1994
“When the Body Becomes Art: The Organs and Body as Object”, Itabashi Art Museum, Tokyo
“Japanese Art after 1945: Scream Against the Sky”, Yokohama Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
“L’art à la plage”, Saint – Tropez
“Itinere”, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela
1993
“3rd Setoda Biennale”, Hiroshima
“Différentes Natures”, Galerie Art Défense, Paris
1992
Awarded Premi Associació Catalona de Critics d’Art
1991
“Line in Contemporary Art – Destination of Eyes and Hands”, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Urawa
1990/1992
“L’Art renouvelle la Ville – L’Art Contemporain et Urbanisme en France”, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki; Yokohama Business Park; Taipei Fine Arts Museum; Musée National des Monuments Français, Paris
1990
“1960s Contemporary Japanese Art”, Gallery Ueda, Tokyo
1987
“Contemporary Japanese Sculpture – Part III”, Contemporary Sculpture Center, Tokyo
1986
The 2nd Exhibition of Tokyo Outdoor Contemporary Sculpture,” Kinuta Park”, Tokyo (Awarded Prize of the Governor of Tokyo Metropolitan Government)
“Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Art”, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
“Japon des avant-gardes 1910-1970”, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1985
“Self-Portrait Today”, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan
“Contemporary Japanese Sculptors”, Galerie Jullien-Cornic, Paris
“3rd Human Documents Exhibition 84/85”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
1984
“Developments in Contemporary Sculpture,1930-1980”, Gallery Seiho, Tokyo
“Exhibition of the Permanent Collection of the Guggenheim”, Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, New York
“Three sculptors-painters: Koshimizu – Takamazu – Miyawaki”, Galerie de l’Institut Franco-japonais, Tokyo
1983
“Trends of Japanese Art in the 1960s”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
“Brigid Schoerdt and her Circle”, Nantenshi Gallery, Tokyo
“Post-War Western Painting in Japan – 100 Works by 65 Innovative Artists”, Hamamatsu City Art Museum, Shizuoka
“Aiko Miyawaki and Arata Isozaki”, Nishida Gallery, Nara
1982
“First Contemporary Art Festival – Shuzo Takiguchi and Post-War Art”, The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama
“8th Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition”, Suma Palace Park, Kobe
1981
“Japanese Contemporary Print”, Mall Galleries, London
“Contemporary Painting in Eastern Europe and Japan”, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa; The National Museum of Art, Osaka
“The Development of Modern Japanese Sculpture”, Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura
“The 2nd Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition”, The Hakone Open-Air Museum, Hakone (Awarded Special Prize for Excellence)
“The 13th International Bronze’s Little Sculpture Biennale 1981”, Padova, Italy
“The 1960’s – A Decade of Change in Contemporary Japanese Art”, The National Museum of Modem Art, Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1980
“Three Sculptors-Model and Drawing”, Kaneko Art Gallery,Tokyo
1979
“Small Works Exhibition”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
1978-81
“MA – Espace-Temps du Japon”, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; New York, Houston, Chicago, Stockholm and Helsinki
1977
“Exhibition ’77”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“Architecture+Art”, Tokyo Central Museum, Tokyo
“The Third Prize Exhibition of The Hakone Open-Air Museum”, Hakone
“The 7th Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Sculpture, 1977”, Ube City Open Air Sculpture Museum, Yamaguchi (Awarded the Prize of Kitakyushu City Museum of Art)
1976
International Art Fair, Bologna, Italy
1975
“Contemporary Art of Japan 1950-1975”, Tokyo Central Museum, Tokyo
“Trends in Contemporary Japanese Art”, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1974
“Contemporary Sculpture of Japan”, Denmark, Finland and Sweden
“4th Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition”, Suma Palace Park, Kobe
“Ten Years of Guggenheim Collection”, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1973
“Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan-Twenty Years of Contemporary Art in Retrospective”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
“Twenty Contemporary Sculptors in Japan 1973”, Tokyo Central Museum, Tokyo
1972
“3rd Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition”, Suma Palace Park, Kobe
1971
“Tokyo Gallery 1971”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“The 10th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
“Exhibition of Tokyo Gallery”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“Constructivist Tendencies: from Collection of George Rickey”, New York, New Mexico, Santa Barbara and San Diego
1970
Expo ’70, Osaka
“2nd Human Documents exhibition”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“Contemporary Japanese Art”, Staempfli Gallery, New York
1969
“Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Collection”, Guggenheim Museum, New York
“The 9th Contemporary Art Exhibition of Japan”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo
1968
“The 1st Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition”, Suma Palace Park, Kobe
“Artists today Exhibition ’68”, Yokohama City Gallery, Yokohama
“Directions 1: Options“, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
“Fluorescent Chrysanthemum – Contemporary Japanese Arts”, ICA, London; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
“The 5th Exhibition for the First Prize of The Museum of Contemporary Art”, Seibu Department Store, Tokyo; Nagaoka Museum of Art, Nagaoka
“The 8th Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo
“Environment in Light”, Sogo Department Store, Tokyo
“The 3rd Japan Art Festival”, Mexico and U.S.A.
1967
“Art in Wonderland”, Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
“The 2nd Exhibition of Modern Japanese Sculpture, 1967”, Ube City Open Air Sculpture Museum, Yamaguchi
“Guggenheim International Sculpture from 20 Nations”, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Art Gallery of Ontario; National Gallery, Ottawa; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
“Trends in Contemporary Japanese Art”, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Purchase award).
1966
“From Space to Environment”, Matsuya Department Store, Tokyo
1964
Riverside Museum, New York
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
1963
Galerie 7, Paris
3rd Paris Biennale, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris
“Trends in Contemporary Japanese Art”, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
1962
“Salon de Tokyo” organized by Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo
1961
George Lester Gallery, Rome