Highlights of the Exhibition

- Yokoyama Taikan, Sakuemon's House, Color on silk with gold leaf on the reverse, Taishō period, 1916
- Yokoyama Taikan, Mountains in the Bright Moonlight, Ink and silver on paper, Shōwa period, 1953
- Yokoyama Taikan, Stream of Spring, Color of Autumn (pair of Hanging scrolls), Color on silk, Shōwa period, c. 1938
- Kobayashi Kokei, Scenes from the Tale of Kiyohime (8 scenes), Color on paper, Shōwa era, 1930
- Yasuda Yukihiko, Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Hiraizumi, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1965
- Maeda Seison, Anatomical Dissection, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1970
- Katayama Nanpū, Carp, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1947
- Okumura Togyū, Maelstrom at Naruto, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1959
- Omoda Seiju, Hillside Road, Color on silk, Taishō period, 1920
- Tomitori Fūdō, Autumnal Tints, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1934
- Hayami Gyoshū, Emerald Moss and Verdant Turf, Color on gold-leafed paper, Shōwa period, 1928
- Ogura Yuki, Dancing (Maiko Girl, Apprentice Geisha), Color on gold-leafed paper, Shōwa period, 1971
- Ogura Yuki, Dancing (Geisha), Color on gold-leafed paper, Shōwa period, 1972
- Iwahashi Eien, Splendor of the Setting Sun, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1977
- Yoshida Yoshihiko, Three Views of Oze, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1974
- Hirayama Ikuo, The Royal Palace of Babylon, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1972
- Hirayama Ikuo, Stone Pillar of King Aso'ka, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1976
- Hirayama Ikuo, Tower Bridge in Mist, Color on paper, Shōwa period, 1963

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About the Exhibition

The Yamatane Museum of Art’s collection focuses on modern Nihonga paintings and is particularly rich in its holdings of paintings by Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute or Inten) artists. The collection includes 134 works that were exhibited in Inten exhibitions, with a total of 138 works, including those exhibited in the Spring Inten exhibitions. This exhibition, featuring Kokei, Hayami Gyoshū, Okamura Tōgyu and Hirayama Ikuo, introduces paintings by Inten painters active in the Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa and Heisei eras.

Okakura Tenshin established the Inten in 1898 as an independent arts organization in opposition to the government-sponsored Bunten exhibitions. The organization initially flourished and then went through a period of disarray when it moved to Izura in Ibaraki prefecture. In 1914 the group was reorganized and revitalized by Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan and others. These painters continued Tenshin’s original vision of opening new ground in painting through the study of the classics, and each strove to create their own richly individualistic free style of painting.

While these painters studied traditional Japanese painting methods, they also absorbed a great deal from European painting and Asian Western-style painting, each creating his or her own distinctive painting style characterized by flexible ideas and fresh sensations. In particular, the Taishō to Shōwa eras, the focal period of the Yamatane Inten holdings, can be seen as a golden age that produced numerous and spirited painters. This exhibition traces the development of modern Nihonga through such richly individualistic works as the Taishō era Sakuemon’s House by Yokoyama Taikan, the early Shōwa period Emerald Moss and Verdant Turf by Hayami Gyoshū, Kobayashi Kokei’s Scenes from the Tale of Kiyohime (the first public presentation in three years of all eight panels), Ogura Yuki’s Dancing and Maeda Seison’s Anatomical Dissection.

Hirayama Ikuo (1930–2009), who passed away last December, was a widely popular Nihonga painter known for his paintings on Buddhist and Silk Road themes and for his magnificent and emotive painting style. Hirayama fostered numerous young talents in his role as president of the Tokyo University of the Arts, while also dedicating himself to cultural property conservation worldwide through his roles as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and related activities. In memory of this luminary of the contemporary Inten group, works by Hirayama, including The Royal Palace of Babylon and Stone Pillar of King Aso’ka, will be on special display in the regular exhibition galleries.