Image: Kurume City Art Museum
Kurume City Art Museum will open a special exhibition devoted to Albert Marquet as part of its 10th-anniversary celebrations. The show, titled 'Albert Marquet: Variations of the Waterside', runs from June 9 to July 29, 2026, in the museum’s second-floor galleries in Kurume, Japan. It brings together about 90 works by the French painter, whose career was closely linked to the Fauvist movement at the start of the 20th century.
According to the museum, this will be Marquet’s first solo exhibition in Japan in 35 years. The presentation focuses on waterside subjects, including river scenes, harbor views and urban waterfronts seen in Paris, Marseille and other locations. The museum describes Marquet as an artist associated with Matisse and other figures in Fauvism, and notes that his compositions are marked by bold framing and a restrained palette often centered on gray tones.
The exhibition is organized by Kurume City Art Museum, Nishi-Nippon Shimbun, TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting, and Kyodo News. Bordeaux Museum is listed as a special partner, with support from the Embassy of France in Japan and Institut Français, as well as the Kurume City Board of Education. The museum also credits DNP as sponsor and Japan Airlines as a collaborator.
The museum’s overview presents the exhibition in several sections. One traces Marquet’s beginnings in Paris and his participation in Fauvism; another examines the Paris cityscapes he repeatedly painted from views along the Seine and around landmarks such as Notre-Dame Cathedral; and a third follows his travel-driven search for waterside settings in cities including Marseille, Naples, Venice and Algiers. Works cited on the museum page include 'Self-Portrait' (1904), 'The Quay at Le Havre' (1906), 'Pont Neuf and La Samaritaine' (1940) and 'Quay of the Snow on the Seine' (1947).
The show will include a mid-run change of displays. The museum says the first installation continues through July 5, followed by a second period from July 7. Regular closure days are Mondays, though the museum will be open on June 22, July 20 and July 27. Admission is set at 1,500 yen for adults, 1,200 yen for seniors, 700 yen for university students and free for high school students and younger. Advance tickets are listed at 1,200 yen.
Related programming is scheduled alongside the exhibition, including a lecture on Marquet’s landscape painting on June 27, a lecture on 'Marquet and Matisse: The Background to Fauvism' on July 18, a talk on 'Marquet and Japan' on July 25, and gallery talks from June 14 to July 26. The museum also lists film screening and family-oriented special days within the exhibition period.
