Exhibition/event has ended.
"Higashiyama Kaii and Nihonga in the Showa Period" Exhibition
Yamatane Museum of Art
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Artists
Higashiyama Kaii, Kawai Gyokudo, Kawasaki Shoko, Morita Sai, Yamamoto Kyujin, Kato Eizo et al.
The year 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Higashiyama Kaii (1908-1999), known as the "national painter of the Showa period". In this commemorative year, the Yamatane Museum presents an exhibition that surveys Kaii's oeuvre, as seen in the Yamatane collection, and introduces other nihonga painters who were active in the Showa era.
Japan during the Showa era was a place of massive change, with its experiences during World War II followed by its post-war recovery and dynamic growth. Rapid modernization and democratization meant that new values and views emerged one after the other. It was a complex time of competing concepts, whether Japan vs. the west, traditional vs. modern, or the spiritual vs. the material. The value systems that reflected a new world order influenced the aesthetics of the modern nihonga painters and brought about a diverse range of styles. Amidst the diversity, Kaii and his fellow Showa painters actively sought out and employed previously unseen materials and methods, as they developed the ways and means of a new Nihonga with an all the freer imagination and creativity.
This exhibition features 19 works by Kaii from the Yamatane collection, along with works by his Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko classmates, Hashimoto Meiji, Kato Eizo, and Yamada Shingo. The exhibition is further enhanced by a display of paintings by members of the Mikokai group whose works were the talk of Showa painting circles, such as Kawai Gyokudo, Yuki Somei, Yamaguchi Hoshun, Morita Sai, Yamamoto Kyujin, Sugiyama Yasushi, and Takayama Tatsuo.
This exhibition is the second to commemorate the opening of our new museum facilities. The galleries will be adorned by an impressive display of works created by Showa painters on commission from the Imperial Household Agency for the decoration of the New Imperial Palace completed in 1968. The exhibition features Kaii's Rising Tide (1970), a massive 9- meter-wide framed wall painting, and is the first public display in 12 years of four works, namely Uemura Shoko's Flowers and Birds of Japan (1970); Hashimoto Meiji's Cherry Tree in Morning Sun (1970), Yamaguchi Hoshun's Maple Tree (Preparatory Drawing for Panel at the New Palace, 4:1 scale, 1967), and Yasuda Yukihiko's Poems in the Manyoshu (1970).
We hope that these Nihonga paintings will provide visitors with a sense of the values and aesthetics of the Showa period, a time that allowed each artist's unique creativity to achieve a full flowering.
[Image: Higashiyama Kaii "The End of the Year"]
Japan during the Showa era was a place of massive change, with its experiences during World War II followed by its post-war recovery and dynamic growth. Rapid modernization and democratization meant that new values and views emerged one after the other. It was a complex time of competing concepts, whether Japan vs. the west, traditional vs. modern, or the spiritual vs. the material. The value systems that reflected a new world order influenced the aesthetics of the modern nihonga painters and brought about a diverse range of styles. Amidst the diversity, Kaii and his fellow Showa painters actively sought out and employed previously unseen materials and methods, as they developed the ways and means of a new Nihonga with an all the freer imagination and creativity.
This exhibition features 19 works by Kaii from the Yamatane collection, along with works by his Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko classmates, Hashimoto Meiji, Kato Eizo, and Yamada Shingo. The exhibition is further enhanced by a display of paintings by members of the Mikokai group whose works were the talk of Showa painting circles, such as Kawai Gyokudo, Yuki Somei, Yamaguchi Hoshun, Morita Sai, Yamamoto Kyujin, Sugiyama Yasushi, and Takayama Tatsuo.
This exhibition is the second to commemorate the opening of our new museum facilities. The galleries will be adorned by an impressive display of works created by Showa painters on commission from the Imperial Household Agency for the decoration of the New Imperial Palace completed in 1968. The exhibition features Kaii's Rising Tide (1970), a massive 9- meter-wide framed wall painting, and is the first public display in 12 years of four works, namely Uemura Shoko's Flowers and Birds of Japan (1970); Hashimoto Meiji's Cherry Tree in Morning Sun (1970), Yamaguchi Hoshun's Maple Tree (Preparatory Drawing for Panel at the New Palace, 4:1 scale, 1967), and Yasuda Yukihiko's Poems in the Manyoshu (1970).
We hope that these Nihonga paintings will provide visitors with a sense of the values and aesthetics of the Showa period, a time that allowed each artist's unique creativity to achieve a full flowering.
[Image: Higashiyama Kaii "The End of the Year"]
Schedule | Dec 5 (Sat) 2009-Jan 31 (Sun) 2010 Opening Hours Information
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| Fee | Adults ¥1200, University and High School Students ¥900, Junior High School Students and under Free | ||||||
| Venue | Yamatane Museum of Art https://www.yamatane-museum.jp/english/  | ||||||
| Location | 3-12-36 Hiroo, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0012 | ||||||
| Access | 10 minute walk from Ebisu Station on the Hibiya and JR line; From the West exit of JR Ebisu Station, take the bus and get off at Hiroo High School. The venue is 1 minute walk from there; From the East exit of JR Shibuta Station, take the bus and get off at Higashi 4-chome. The venue is 2 minute walk from there. | ||||||
| Phone | 050-5541-8600 (Hello Dial) | ||||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it  |
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