Setsuko: Into Nature accompanies the exhibition Setsuko: Into Nature at Gagosian, Gstaad, Switzerland where the artist has resided since 1977.

Setsuko has developed a body of work that draws upon both traditional Japanese and European modernist aesthetics to respond to the natural world. The ceramic and bronze sculptures, paintings, and works on paper that comprised Into Nature depict trees, acorns, foliage and fruit, celebrating nature’s abundance while also evoking questions of life and death, growth and decay.

This catalogue brings together reproductions of more than thirty exhibited works with installation photography and archival images showing Setsuko and her late husband, Balthus, at the Grand Chalet. It features a foreword by Setsuko, explaining the early origins of her interest in animism, and a text by novelist and poet Shan Sa who was formerly an assistant to the couple. Titled 'Life Is a Long Haiku', Shan’s contribution maps Setsuko’s journey from Japan to Europe and traces the development of her artistic practice from its earliest years to the present.

Gagosian, 100pp, 23cm × 32cm, illustrated paperback in dustjacket, 2024