On Kawara

On Kawara was a pivotal figure in postwar conceptual art. Through highly systematic bodies of work, he developed a rigorous artistic language centered on chronological time, using repetition and precision to examine existence, presence, and duration.

Born in Kariya, Japan, Kawara became involved in the postwar avant-garde in Tokyo before relocating internationally and establishing the core projects that would define his practice, including the Date Paintings and the long-term work One Million Years.

Kawara’s work has been presented in landmark institutional exhibitions, notably Information at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970), and in major solo and retrospective exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Dia Beacon, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2025). His work is held in major public collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.