Special Exhibition :
Takeuchi Seihō’s Tabby Cat and an Animal Paradise

with Special Viewing :
Prototype for Illustrated Scrolls of the Arrival of Christianity by Moriya Tadashi, a Gift to the Pope

16 May (Sat.) – 12 July (Sun.) 2020
※Dates changed 19 September – 15 November
(Closed on 23 September and on Mondays except 21 September.)

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

Admission Fees: Adults: 1,300 yen; university and high school students: 1,000 yen; middle school and younger children: free of charge (but must be accompanied by an adult)
Disability ID holders and one person accompanying them: 1,100 yen (university and high school students: 900 yen)
*Discount for those who are wearing kimono: Discount of 200 yen for adults, 100 yen for university and high school students.

Organized by: Yamatane Museum of Art and Nikkei Inc.

Highlights of the Exhibition

Takeuchi Seihō, Tabby Cat [Important Cultural Property], Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1924, Yamatane Museum of Art

Takeuchi Seihō, Horned Owl, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, c.1933, Yamatane Museum of Art

Takeuchi Seihō, Frogs and Dragonfly, Ink and Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1934, Yamatane Museum of Art

Takeuchi Seihō, Ducklings, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, c.1937, Yamatane Museum of Art

Takeuchi Seihō, Bird on a Water Wheel, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1938, Yamatane Museum of Art

Shibata Zeshin, Urushi-e Lacquer Painting Album "Bokurin Hikka", Lacquer on Paper, Meiji Period, 1877-88, Yamatane Museum of Art

Nishimura Goun, Polar Bear, Color on Silk, Meiji Period, 1907, Yamatane Museum of Art

Nishiyama Suishō, Puppies, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1957, Yamatane Museum of Art

Omura Taiun, Eastward Ho!, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1915, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kobayashi Kokei, Cat, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1946, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hashimoto Kansetsu, Frosty Morning, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, c. 1935-44, Yamatane Museum of Art

Okumura Togyū, Rabbit, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, c. 1947, Yamatane Museum of Art

Omoda Seiju, The Brood, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, c. 1930, Yamatane Museum of Art

Hayami Gyoshū, Two Themes on Insect Life: Spider's Trap Beneath the Leaves and Moths Dancing Around the Light, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1926, Yamatane Museum of Art

Yamaguchi Kayō, Life Newly Born, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1973, Yamatane Museum of Art

Takeuchi Kōichi, Monkeys, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1977, Yamatane Museum of Art

Moriya Tadashi, Prototype for Illustrated Scrolls of the Arrival of Christianity. Color on Paper, Shōwa or Heisei Period, 20th to 21st Century

Approximately 60 works in total are to be displayed.

Exhibition Overview

Animals’ lovable gestures and graceful forms melt our hearts and, at times, heal them. Animals of all sorts have been depicted, and enjoyed, in Japanese paintings ancient and modern. Continuing that tradition, the Yamatane Museum of Art is pleased to present an exhibition of fascinating paintings of animals by Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942) and other modern and contemporary nihonga artists for your enjoyment.

Takeuchi Seihō, a leader in the modern Kyoto art world, produced many paintings of animals throughout his career. His superb descriptive powers earned him great respect as a master of animal paintings. Tabby Cat (Important Cultural Property), which he produced in 1924, is both that artist’s signature work and a masterpiece among modern nihonga animal paintings. Seihō happened to encounter, and be captivated by, a cat in Numazu City, Shizuoka prefecture. He carefully observed the feline, sketched it, and brought this masterwork to completion. Tabby Cat, with the cat’s graceful motion, sharp eyes, and soft fur rendered in skillful brushwork, is one of the most popular works in our museum’s collection.

This exhibition presents Tabby Cat for the first time in about four years along with sixteen other paintings depicting animals by Seihō. It also exhibits superb, and highly individual, works by other painters who excelled in depicting animals. Those artists include Nishimura Goun, Nishiyama Suishō, and Hashimoto Kansetsu, who studied with Seihō, Uemura Shōkō, and Takeuchi Kōichi, all of Kyoto, and leading members of the Tokyo art world, including Kobayashi Kokei and Okumura Togyū. Adorable dogs and cats, heroic horses and oxen, humorous frogs: as you observe this cornucopia of works in which we can sense the warmth of their creators’ feelings toward animals, enjoy the animal paradise nihonga have engendered.

This exhibition is joined by the display of Prototype for Illustrated Scrolls of the Arrival of Christianity, by Moriya Tadashi (1912-2003), a leading artist in the history painting genre who was active in the Showa and Heisei periods. This work will be donated to the Vatican to commemorate the Pope’s November, 2019, visit to Japan. Moriya Tadashi had also created the Geronimo Amakusa Shirō screen painting, depicting the Christian Amakusa Shirō in warrior garb, when the Pope visited Japan in 1981, and that painting was displayed in our museum before being donated to the Pope. Now Prototype for Illustrated Scrolls of the Arrival of Christianity, a work with the transmission of Christianity to Japan as its subject, is being exhibited for the first time before being donated to the Vatican. This occasion thus provides a rare opportunity to view this work.

*All works mentioned are from the Yamatane Museum of Art collection.

Takeuchi Seihō’s Tabby Cat and an Animal Paradise

Takeuchi Seihō, Horned Owl

Takeuchi Seihō, Ducklings

Takeuchi Seihō, Bird on a Water Wheel

Shibata Zeshin, Urushi-e Lacquer Painting Album "Bokurin Hikka"

Nishiyama Suishō, Puppies

Nishimura Goun, Polar Bear

Kobayashi Kokei, Cat

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