Thematic Exhibition: Sakura, Sakura, Sakura 2018 ―Flower Viewing at the Museum! [Past Exhibition]

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Past Exhibition

Thematic Exhibition:
Sakura, Sakura, Sakura 2018
―Flower Viewing at the Museum!

Tsuchida Bakusen, Oharame, Women Peddlers, Yamatane Museum of Art

10 March (Sat.) – 6 May (Sun.) 2018
(Closed on Mondays, except for 30 April, 1 May.)

Hours:10 am - 5 pm (Last admission at 4:30 pm)

Admission Fees: Adults: 1,000 [800] yen; university and high school students: 800 [700] yen; middle school and younger children: free of charge
*Figures in brackets are for groups of 20 or more, advance tickets, repeaters with used tickets for this exhibition 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

Highlights of the Exhibition

Kanō Tsunenobu, The Battle of the Flowers Between the Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei Teams, Color on Silk, Edo Period, 17th to 18th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hashimoto Gahō, Kojima Takanori, a Heroic Samurai: Scene from the Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Great Peace), Color on Silk, Meiji Period, c. 1899, Yamatane Museum of Art

Watanabe Seitei, Cherry Blossoms and Sparrows, Color on Silk, Meiji to Taishō Period, 20th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kikuchi Hōbun, Twelve Months of Bird-and-Flower Paintings, Color on Silk, Meiji to Taishō Period, c. 1868-1918, Yamatane Museum of Art

Yamamoto Shunkyo, The Foot of Mt. Fuji in Spring, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1931, Yamatane Museum of Art

Uemura Shōen, Cherry-Blossom Viewing, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, c. 1926-29, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kikuchi Keigetsu, Excursion for Viewing Cherry Blossoms, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1934, Yamatane Museum of Art

Tomita Keisen, Arashiyama in Spring, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, c. 1919, Yamatane Museum of Art

Matsuoka Eikyū, Court Ladies in Spring Clothing, in the Spring Sunlight, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1917, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kobayashi Kokei, Scenes from the Legend of Kiyohime: Cherry Tree at the Graves of Anchin and Lady Kiyohime, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1930, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kobayashi Kokei, Maitreya, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1933, Yamatane Museum of Art

Tsuchida Bakusen, Oharame, Women Peddlers, Color on Gold-Leafed Silk Gauze, Taishō Period, 1915, Yamatane Museum of Art

Okumura Togyū, Cherry Blossoms at Daigo-ji Temple, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1972, Yamatane Museum of Art

Okumura Togyū, Spring in Yoshino, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1977, Yamatane Museum of Art

Omoda Seiju, Spring Garden, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1918, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hayami Gyoshū, Cherry Blossoms in the Dark, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1928, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hayami Gyoshū, Dawn and Spring Evening, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1934, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hashimoto Meiji, Cherry Tree in Morning Sun, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1970, Yamatane Museum of Art

Higashiyama Kaii, Spring Calm, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1968, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kayama Matazō, Cherry Blossoms in the Dark, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1986, Yamatane Museum of Art

Senju Hiroshi, Cherry Blossoms in the Dark, Color on Paper, Heisei Period, 2001, Yamatane Museum of Art

In Japan, cherry blossoms symbolize spring. This spring, the Yamatane Museum of Art is delighted to present, for the first time in six years, a radiant selection of works from the collection depicting cherry trees and their blossoms.

The beauty of the cherry tree, which bursts into full bloom, then sees its blossoms scatter, has long been celebrated in poetry, used in motifs decorating furnishings and clothing, and, of course, enthusiastically depicted in paintings. The cherry tree has been depicted in many types of paintings: narrative and genre paintings of people enjoying the cherry blossoms, paintings of landscapes with cherry trees and spots famous for their cherry blossoms (including, of course, Yoshino in Nara), and bird-and-flower paintings and paintings of floral subjects, in which flowers play the leading role. An abundance of styles has also developed over the centuries.

The cherry tree also continues to be a major subject in modern and contemporary nihonga. These include impressive paintings of scenes from history or tales, including Hashimoto Gahō’s Kojima Takanori, a Heroic Samurai: Scene from the Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Great Peace) and Kobabashi Kokei’s Scenes from the Legend of Kiyohime: Cherry Tree at the Graves of Anchin and Lady Kiyohime. Uemura Shōen’s Cherry-Blossom Viewing, which is modeled on Edo-period genre paintings, makes effective use of cherry blossoms in a painting whose theme is the past. Okumura Togyū’s Cherry Blossoms at Daigo-ji Temple and Higashiyama Kaii's Spring Calm both of which depict Kyoto’s cherry blossoms, do more than portray scenes of cherry trees in bloom. They also reflect how these artists feel about those trees and blossoms. Hayami Gyoshū’s Cherry Blossoms in the Dark, a fantasy-like close up of cherry blossoms at night, is one of many works that make the cherry blossom itself their subject while also reflecting the artist’s individuality and unique aesthetic. In these paintings, we can experience a rich array of nihonga styles.

Cherry blossom paintings by distinguished nihonga artists will be in full bloom at the Yamatane Museum of Art in the spring of 2018. We hope that cherry-blossom viewing at our museum will enrich visitors’ experiences of this season.