In the aftermath of World War II, many young artists in Japan—as in Europe and the United States—challenged themselves to rethink their inherited artistic and pictorial traditions.

As the longest-standing female member of the Gutai collective, Tsuruko Yamazaki was a pivotal figure in the Japanese avant-garde movement.

Composition with Three Piles of Sand is a tour-de-force of asymmetry and balance, peacefulness and tension.

The austere materials that artist Fergus Feehily uses in his small-scale paintings soften their sense of complexity. Feehily regularly incorporates an amalgam of manufactured materials, often layered with or framed by found objects.

The austere materials that artist Fergus Feehily uses in his small-scale paintings soften their sense of complexity. Feehily regularly incorporates an amalgam of manufactured materials, often layered with or framed by found objects.

More than a mental trick, Cube 6 + 3 is a manipulation of presence and absence. Toying with geometry and perspective, red lines make the cube seem simultaneously opaque and transparent. Jirō Takamatsu makes apparent what doesn't exist: the "inside" of the cube.

This inlaid ivory backgammon board has three small wooden figures inside, which the winner of the game could make pop up by pulling cords attached to them. Images of women framed by cartouches embellish its surface along with intricate geometric patterns.

This small ivory piece was originally one of many plaques attached to the ceremonial regalia of a Himalayan monastic dancer. These plaques were decorated with the deities of Tantric Buddhism, like Mahakala, a wrathful deity.