Hidetoshi Nagasawa

Hidetoshi Nagasawa (Manchuria, 1940 – Milan, 2018) was a Japanese-born artist who became a naturalized Italian citizen. Renowned for his work that merges sculpture, architecture, poetry, and spirituality, Nagasawa developed a deeply original artistic language rooted in both Eastern philosophy and Western artistic practices.

Trained in architecture in Japan, he embarked on a bicycle journey across Asia that eventually led him to Italy in 1967. He settled in Milan, which remained the center of his artistic life.

Nagasawa’s art is characterized by a delicate balance between lightness and gravity, material and void. Using materials such as marble, bronze, gold, and iron, his sculptures often challenge the laws of physics, balancing on minimal contact points and evoking meditative, poetic tensions. These spatial relationships speak of silence, contemplation, and unseen forces connecting objects and ideas.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he gained international recognition through his participation in events such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta in Kassel. He was also closely associated with the conceptual art scene in Italy, collaborating with figures like Luciano Fabro, Mario Merz, and Jannis Kounellis, and was a key figure in Milan’s Galleria Toselli.

Nagasawa also created large-scale environmental and architectural installations, bringing sculpture into the public realm. From 1997 to 2004, he taught at the New Academy of Fine Arts (NABA) in Milan.

His work remains a poetic bridge between cultures, times, and mediums, and continues to inspire reflection and admiration across the international art world.