Highlights of the Exhibition
History of Challenge
The history of nihonga from the modern period on is also the history of artists who have constantly sought to create paintings appropriate for their times. The Yamatane Museum of Art is pleased to present an exhibition tracing that history, from Meiji to today, through a group of masterpieces by the elite artists who have continued to take up the challenge of creating nihonga.
Uemura Shōen, Feathered Snow. Color on Silk, Showa Period, 1944; Yamatane Museum of Art
In the Meiji period, with the introduction of Western culture and the progressing modernization of Japanese society, artists engaged in ongoing explorations in their efforts to create Japanese paintings that were the equals of, or superior to, Western paintings. Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunsō incorporated Western styles in the Japanese art tradition and showed their experimental works at the newly founded Inten (Japan Art Institute Exhibition), opening up new aspects of nihonga.
In the subsequent Taisho and Showa periods, artists appeared who sought to combat the government-organized exhibitions and the Inten, which was dominant in the Japanese painting world. Tsuchida Bakusen and Ono Chikkyō were among the artists who formed the Kokuga Sōsaku Kyōkai (Association for the Creation of National Painting; now the Kokugakai), while Kawabata Ryūshi founded the Seiryūsha as an independent group of artists. Their efforts stirred up great turmoil in the art world.
Term: 29 July (Sat.) – 24 September (Sun.) 2023
Open: 10 am – 5 pm (Last admission at 4:30 pm)
Closed: 19 September and on Mondays, except for 18 September.
Organizers: Yamatane Museum of Art and The Asahi Shimbun Company
Official Exhibition Website: https://www.yamatane-museum.jp/exh/english/2023/elites.html
Under the calling of the Extinction of Nihonga
After World War II, under the impact of Japan’s defeat, the values expressed in conventional nihonga were questioned, and voices were heard calling for the extinction of nihonga. While experiencing an intense sense of crisis and discord, artists confronted tradition and sought to overcome those adverse circumstances through extensive research in a variety of styles and technqiues. The Yamatane Museum of Art Award was established to support young artists devoting themselves to creating anew through that difficult period. Matsuo Toshio, Okamura Keizaburō, and many other artists who later became leaders in the art world submitted their ambitious, innovative works for that award, which became the gateway to success in nihonga, and went on to make great achievements.
Hayami Gyoshū, White Cotton Roses. Ink and Color on Paper, Showa Period, 1934; Yamatane Museum of Art
See also What is Shin-hanga? and who is Kawase Hasui? and why are his wood prints so popular?
Hishida Syunsō, Kawabata Ryūshi and Uemura Shōen
This exhibition introduces a remarkable body of work, including After the Rain by Hishida Shunsō, who endeavored to express the atmosphere using his mōrōtai (“vague” or “indistinct”) technique, without outlines, Feathered Snow by Uemura Shōen, who pioneered a path for living as a woman and an artist, Maelstroms at Naruto, by Kawabata Ryūshi, a painting produced with lavish use of a rare blue mineral pigment, azurite, that he showed at the noteworthy first Seiryūsha exhibition, and Flight (which received the Yamate Museum of Art Award) by Matsuo Toshio, an artist who, having faced the call for the extinction of nihonga in his youth, went on to become one of Japan’s most prominent painters. Through this diverse group of works, from the Meiji period to the present, we invite you to view the trajectories of these superb artists who dared to create new styles of nihonga.
Hishida Shunsō, After the Rain. Color on Silk, Meiji Period, c. 1907; Yamatane Museum of Art
Term: 29 July (Sat.) – 24 September (Sun.) 2023
Open: 10 am – 5 pm (Last admission at 4:30 pm)
Closed: 19 September and on Mondays, except for 18 September.
Organizers: Yamatane Museum of Art and The Asahi Shimbun Company
Official Exhibition Website: https://www.yamatane-museum.jp/exh/english/2023/elites.html
See also What is Shin-hanga? and who is Kawase Hasui? and why are his wood prints so popular?
