Event
Date: 2022.10.08 sat. – 2023.01.22 sun.
[First term]
10.8 sat.～11.27 sun.
[Second term]
11.29 tue.～1.22 sun.
Hours: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
*Fridays: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
*Admission until 30 min. before closing
*Opening hours is subject to change, due to the prevention against COVID-19 pandemic.
Please check the updated information, before your visit.
Closed:Mondays
Admission:
Adult: 430 yen (220 yen)
University students: 130 yen (70 yen)
High school students or younger,seniors (65 and over): Free
*Figures in parentheses are for groups of 20 or more.
https://www.momak.go.jp/English/collectiongalleryarchive/2022/collectiongallery2022no04.html
Venue
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
https://www.momak.go.jp/English/
Access:26-1, Okazaki Enshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8344 JAPAN
Tel:075-761-4111
Overview
The coronavirus pandemic continues to gain momentum, with Japan seeing a record number of reported cases in August, and continues to affect the activities of museums and galleries. Under normal circumstances, the museum receives many requests to borrow objects from our collection, and we are grateful that they have been viewed in so many other locations. However, since the pandemic struck there has been a series of cancellations of loan requests, and although the number of requests has gradually crept back up, it has not returned to previous levels. Under these circumstances the museum’s Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) collection, which is frequently on loan, now slumbers in a storage room. The museum opened 59 years ago, in 1963, and next year will mark its 60th anniversary. In anticipation of this milestone year, and as a prelude to next year’s exhibition, we are pleased to present masterworks that trace the arc of the museum’s Nihonga acquisitions to date.
Works from the Kyoto art world form the core of the Nihonga collection. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting was established thanks to the efforts of Kyoto citizens, and after evolving into the Kyoto Municipal School of Fine Arts and Crafts, the Kyoto Municipal Specialized School for Painting, and other forms, it became what are today two institutions, Kyoto City Dohda Senior High School of Arts and Kyoto City University of Arts. Meanwhile, many artists’ groups emerged, including Heigogakai, with participants including Chigusa Soun and Ogawa Sen’yo, pupils of Asai Chu; Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai, or the National Creative Painting Association, members of which included Tsuchida Bakusen, Ono Chikkyo, Murakami Kagaku, Nonagase Banka, Sakakibara Shiho, and Irie Hako; the Pan-Real Art Association, including Hoshino Shingo and Fudo Shigeya; and the Sozo Bijutsu Artist Association, formed by Kyoto and Tokyo painters such as Uemura Shoko, Akino Fuku, Hirota Tazu and Yoshioka Kenji, all of which made for a vibrant Nihonga scene as each group strove for innovation in the genre.
Among the Nihonga painters with works in the museum collection, those selected as Imperial Court artists include Mori Kansai, Kono Bairei, Kishi Chikudo, Imao Keinen, Mochizuki Gyokusen, Takeuchi Seiho, Tomioka Tessai, Yamamoto Shunkyo, and Uemura Shoen, with Takeuchi Seiho earning particular fame as he went on to receive the Order of Cultural Merit, along with Yokoyama Taikan, in the first year it was established. In addition to Seiho, other Order of Cultural Merit recipients include Uemura Shoen, Nishiyama Suisho, Domoto Insho, Fukuda Heihachiro, Tokuoka Shinsen, Ono Chikkyo, Yamaguchi Kayo, Uemura Shoko, Ikeda Yoson, and Akino Fuku. We hope that the museum’s Nihonga collection offers a picture of the essence of the Kyoto art world, which remains extraordinarily active, wide-ranging, and fascinating to this day.
