Past Exhibition
Special Exhibition Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Yamatane Museum of Art
The Best of the Yamatane Collection III
Definitive Nihonga Masterpieces: The Kyoto Art World
― 19th Century to Contemporary Paintings
Takeuchi Seihō, Tabby Cat (Important Cultural Property),
Color on Silk, 1924, Yamatane Museum of Art
10 December (Sat.) – 5 February (Sun.) 2016
(Closed on 1/10, from 12/29 to 1/2 and on Mondays, but open on 1/9)
Hours:10 am - 5 pm (Last admission at 4:30 pm)
Admission Fees: Adults: 1,200 [1,000] yen; university and high school students: 900 [800] yen; middle school and younger children: free of charge
*Figures in brackets are for groups of 20 or more, advance tickets, and those who are wearing kimono.
*Disability ID holders and one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge.
Organized by: Yamatane Museum of Art and The Asahi Shimbun
Approximately 50 works in total are to be displayed.
Exhibition Overview
The Yamatane Museum of Art, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2016, was founded in 1996 as Japan’s first museum specializing in nihonga. Its core was the personal collection of Yamazaki Taneji (1893－1983), founder of Yamatane Securities (now SMBC Friend Securities Co., Ltd.). His collection’s paramount characteristic is that he built it through close friendships with nihonga artists who were his contemporaries.
In commemorating the museum’s half-century milestone, we have selected what we term “definitive nihonga masterpieces,” works from the collection that are indispensable to any discussion of the history of modern art in Japan. This exhibition of masterpieces by the most important artists of their day will be divided into two parts, the first focusing on artists participating in the Kyoto art world, the second on the Tokyo art world. Both parts of this special exhibition will display the crème de la crème of nihonga.
From the Meiji period on, nihonga artists have been acutely aware of Western art, which flowed into Japan, and have been exploring approaches to nihonga suited to the new age in which they lived. Participants in the Kyoto art world both carried on the traditions of sketching from life based on both Yamato-e, which originated in the Heian period, and the Edo-period Maruyama Shijô School and sought to create innovations in nihonga that would suit the times in which they lived. Their efforts were organizational as well as personal; they founded, for example, the Kyoto Prefectural Art School, Japan’s first public school of art. In that context, a great number of highly individualistic nihonga artists who became art circle leaders emerged. While respecting tradition, the highly flexible Kyoto setting introduced a series of new elements and contributed many new aspects to nihonga.
This exhibition introduces the quintessence of nihonga artists in the Kyoto art world, through works that include A Hundred Flowers, by Tanomura Chokunyū, who made every effort to achieve the founding of that first public art school, Tabby Cat, a painting that captures the touch, the breath, the very being of its subject, by Takeuchi Seihō, who was a pioneering leader, Feathered Snow, which presents women of great purity by Uemura Shōen, a younger artist, Lights in the Offing by Ono Chikkyō, who depicted richly lyrical landscapes, and Bamboo Shoots by Fukuda Heihachirō, who worked simple compositions and clear colors.
This cornucopia of works from Kyoto will bring you an opportunity to enjoy gem-like masterpieces by artists who transcended the conventional, traditional frameworks, while staying true to their roots in regarding sketching from life as their standard, to open up new terrain in nihonga.
 Tanomura Chokunyū, A Hundred Flowers(detail), Color on Silk, 1869, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Tsuchida Bakusen, Oharame, Women Peddlers, Color on Gold-Leafed Silk Gauze, 1915, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Uemura Shōen, Feathered Snow, Color on Silk, 1944, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Murakami Kagaku, Nude (Important Cultural Property), Color on Silk, 1920, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Nishimura Goun, Polar Bear, Color on Silk, 1907, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Yamamoto Shunkyo, Pool in the Crater, Color on Silk, 1925, Yamatane Museum of Art |
 Ono Chikkyō, Lights in the Offing, Color on Paper, 1977, Yamatane Museum of Art |