In the 1950’s, Yanagi’s late years, abstract art attracted a great deal of attention in the Japanese art world including the exhibition ‘Abstract and Illusion’ at National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Yanagi contributed the article ‘On the Beauty of Abstract’ (1957) to the magazine Kokoro (mind). This article, in which Yanagi explained old yet new abstract beauty, developed into Mingei magazine vol.63 (March 1958) featuring abstract patterns, and a number of illustrations were introduced.
This exhibition is mainly organized with abstract patterns crafts which were featured in the special issue, and explored what was abstract beauty through Yanagi’s aesthetics.