Simon Yotsuya (1944-) is a charismatic and popular contemporary doll artist. Kuniyoshi Kaneko (1936-2015) was a painter with many avid fans, best known for his Alice in Wonderland illustrations. The two met at a jazz cafe in Shinjuku in the early 1960s, and while they both acted in female roles in underground theater troupes, established their own artistic styles in dolls and painting and remained friends for many years, appreciating each other's aesthetic sensibilities.

This exhibition focuses on literary themes such as eroticism pioneered by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, a scholar of French literature who was a spiritual pillar for the two artists, and introduces all works by Simon Yotsuya in the Simose Collection, along with works owned by the Kamada Foundation, and oil paintings and prints by Kuniyoshi Kaneko. Visitors are invited to enjoy these radical and eccentric works of the 1960s and 1970s, when the two artists staged their first solo exhibitions, and the aesthetic and obsence nature of their unique yet resonant worlds built around common motifs such as girls and boys. In the movable galleries, visitors can view the diversity of the Simose Collection arranged in eight themes, including works by Hirata Goyo, one of Japan's leading dollmakers, prints by Picasso, glass art by Emile Gallé, and architectural models by Shigeru Ban.