Louis Icart Art Museum

Highlight

While all voluptuous, the female subjects retain a sense of cute naivety Right is “Thoroughbred” and below is “Mimi Pinson”

Parisian art déco

Louis Icart was a French artist active in the art déco era. And, when the head of the Ruriko-in temple (in Yase, Kyoto) first saw Icart’s paintings in Paris, he fell for them, and has been collecting them ever since for some 50 years - each one featuring a woman. In other words, the collection focuses on an artist whose theme is a take on the unique perspectives of the lives of “women”. There are women playing with animals, posing with plants and even a woman’s soft shape expressed by cigarette smoke.
The museum is divided into five rooms, each with a theme. The main room “Galerie” has a large window looking out onto the garden, so both the paintings and garden can be enjoyed here. Next, the “Salon” room offsets pictures against a bamboo grove framed in the room’s window. Heading upstairs, the third room “Le Jour” lets in the morning light. Whereas, “Le Soir” is a tatami mat room with the feel of early afternoon. And, finally, “La Nuit” is a study with nighttime as its theme.