Special 60th Memorial Exhibition:
Kawai Gyokudō ―Seasons, People, Nature

Kawai Gyokudō, Spring Breeze, Spring Stream, Yamatane Museum of Art

28 October (Sat.) – 24 December (Sun.) 2017
(Closed on 25 December to 2 January 2018.)

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 Nikkei Inc.

Highlights of the Exhibition

Kawai Gyokudō, Cormorant Fishing, Color on Silk, Meiji Period, 1895, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, Ducks, Color on Silk, Meiji Period, 1897, Tokyo National Museum

Kawai Gyokudō, A Night Heron in Summer Rain, Color on Silk, Meiji Period, 1899, Gyokudō Art Museum

Kawai Gyokudō, Hills and Streams in Autumn, Color on Silk, Meiji Period, 1906, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, Taishō Period,c. 1919, Gyokudō Art Museum

Kawai Gyokudō, Lingering Snow, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1934, The Japan Art Academy

Kawai Gyokudō, Autumn Rain, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1940, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Kawai Gyokudō, After a Mountain Shower, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1943, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, Young Ladies Planting Rice, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1945, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, A Lady Arranging Flowers, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1929, Gyokudō Art Museum

Kawai Gyokudō, A Pair of Cranes on a Pine, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1942, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, Bear, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1946, Gyokudō Art Museum

Kawai Gyokudō (1873-1957) was enthralled by Japan’s mountains and rivers and ceaselessly painted their rich natural beauty and the people who lived within that environment. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Gyokudō’s death, the Yamatane Museum of Art is examining his achievements in a retrospective exhibition.

Born in Aichi and raised in Gifu prefecture, Gyokudō trained with Mochizuki Gyokusen and Kōno Bairei in Kyoto before moving to Tokyo, where he studied under Hashimoto Gahō. Gyokudō loved to paint natural scenes and took the styles of the Maruyama Shijō and Kanō schools as his foundation while opening up new terrain by shifting from traditional sansui to modern landscape painting in his work. He also served as a judge at the official art exhibitions, taught at Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), and was appointed an Imperial Household Artist. His activities as a central figure in the Tokyo art world were recognized by his being awarded the Order of Culture by the Government of Japan in 1940. After World War II, he chose to remain in the Okutama district of Tokyo, to which he had been evacuated during the war. There he developed a serene pastoral style.

This exhibition, in introducing the body of work Gyokudō created during his seventy-year career, focuses on the artist’s masterpieces, including his early Cormorant Fishing (Yamatane Museum of Art), Red and White Plum Blossoms (Gyokudō Art Museum) from his exploratory years in search of a new style, Autumn Rain (National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) from his mature period, and Weeding the Roof (Tokyo Metropolitan Government), which he showed when participating in the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) for the last time.

Gyokudō was known for the warm, gentle personality that matched his paintings and was on close terms, through his painting and haiku and waka poetry, with many artists and cultured individuals, including Yokoyama Taikan and other painters who were his contemporaries. Our museum’s founder, Yamazaki Taneji, was also in close contact with Gyokudō; through that friendship, our museum has come to own seventy-one works by Gyokudō, including some that he painted for Taneji’s family. In this exhibition, we focus on stories of Gyokudō’s relationships with the people in his circle to explore the artist’s fascinating real face.

We hope that this exhibition will give visitors the opportunity to appreciate the essence of Gyukodō's art through experiencing his character and the warmth with which he addressed Japan throughout the four seasons, people, and nature.

Finally, we would like to take the opportunity presented by this exhibition to express our deep appreciation to all those individuals and organizations who have graciously lent their works for display, and to all those who have provided their efforts and cooperation towards the exhibition's successful realization.

Kawai Gyokudō, Cormorant Fishing, Yamatane Museum of Art	Kawai Gyokudō, Ducks, Tokyo National Museum	Kawai Gyokudō, A Night Heron in Summer Rain, Gyokudō Art Museum
Kawai Gyokudō, Hills and Streams in Autumn, Yamatane Museum of Art	Kawai Gyokudō, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Gyokudō Art Museum	Kawai Gyokudō, Lingering Snow, The Japan Art Academy
Kawai Gyokudō, Autumn Rain, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo	Kawai Gyokudō, After a Mountain Shower, Yamatane Museum of Art	Kawai Gyokudō, Young Ladies Planting Rice, Yamatane Museum of Art
Kawai Gyokudō, A Lady Arranging Flowers, Gyokudō Art Museum	Kawai Gyokudō, A Pair of Cranes on a Pine, Yamatane Museum of Art	Kawai Gyokudō, Bear, Gyokudō Art Museum