Exhibition Outlines

Western style painting in Japan started with Takahashi Yuichi who was active during the early Meiji period, as one of its pioneers. At the time, because this style reproduced its subject better than the painting method up to then, it attracted attention as a method for recording images. After training by western painters who came to Japan as teachers, and studying western painting techniques in Europe, Japanese painters began to create earnest western style paintings. Along with this, various systems related to art in Japan were organized, such as the establishment of the Tokyo Fine Art School, and the art exhibitions of the Ministry of Education, and therefore western style painting was able to construct a firm position within the Japanese art outline.

In this exhibition, we will introduce western style paintings with these circumstances in rooting in Japan, from the Meiji to early Showa periods. We are focusing on the subject depicted, dividing them in three groups, namely landscapes of Japan and foreign countries, paintings portraying the era, and paintings depicting Japanese historical events. Many of the works exhibited were purchased at the various exhibitions, or painted as gifts to the Imperial Household, and the contents depicted changed along with acquiring newly introduced western painting techniques, and the style becoming established within society. Wouldn't it be interesting for us in the present day, to take notice of how the superior painters looked at their subjects, and depicted them?

We hope this exhibition will be a chance for our visitors to have a closer acquaintance with master works among modern western style paintings, and think about the era and their social conditions when they were painted.