Yokoyama Taikan, who long flourished as the center of the modern Japanese art world, was born in Mito City, in 1868, the first year of the Meiji Era. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Taikan’s birth. In celebration, we will hold a special exhibition, in which Taikan “confronts” other great masters of Japanese painting.
Taikan painted thousands of works throughout his life. He produced great masterpieces in various art themes, including pictures of Mt. Fuji, kacho-ga (flower and bird paintings), portraits and sansui-ga (natural landscape paintings). With his belief to renovate Japanese painting, Taikan continued pursuing new expressions. Therefore, bold ideas and compositions can be often seen in his works, which abound with such beauties to draw people’s attention.
In this exhibition, we will display these works, arranging a work by Taikan and a work of the same theme by another painter in a set. You can see various works by Taikan and those by other masters who played a key role in the Japanese modern art world: for example, Takeuchi Seiho, who was regarded as the western master while Taikan was regarded as the eastern one, Kawai Gyokudo, who painted ordinary people’s lives in a tasteful, emotional way, and Kawabata Ryushi, who created a bold painting-style based on the concept of “art for exhibition halls.” We will offer an opportunity for the viewer to compare these painters in a set of two works, allowing you to appreciate each painter’s style and appeal. We hope you will enjoy the “confrontation” between these masters.