Moriguchi studied painting in the “Japanese Style” at the Kyoto University of Arts. He left for France at age 22 and became a brilliant student at the École nationale des arts décoratifs, dreaming of becoming a “graphic designer.” He became friends with the critic Gaëtan Picon and the painter Balthus, who invited him to the Villa Médicis. The latter persuaded him to dedicate himself to the art of yûzen, a three-hundred-year-old technique used for ceremonial Kimonos.

Not long after his return to Kyoto in 1966, Moriguchi became part of his father’s studio, where he developed a very personal, geometric and abstract style, all the while respecting the processes of traditional techniques, and without ever losing view of the goal of dressing women’s bodies. His kimonos became very successful, and were bought by the most public personalities and eminent museums in his country and abroad.

This exhibition condenses 50 years of creativity. Kunihiko Moriguchi has selected 26 of his kimonos, from the first one he created in 1967 to the one which he conceived specially for this retrospective. Subtle and rigorous, his works on Japanese paper created with this same yûzen technique also testify to his search for a form of perfection. Finally, his collaborations with the Mitsukoshi department stores and the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres show that he brilliantly succeeded in applying his graphic researches to media that incarnate daily life, such as shopping bags or coffee mugs.

Konihiko Moriguchi invites us to find a “hidden order” in the geometric structure of these works, intimately inspired by nature and temporal cycles.

Kunihiko Moriguchi was exhibited for the first time in Europe in 1986. This premiere, which initiated a series of three exhibitions at the gallery Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, opened new horizons