The Japan Art Institute is an art organization that was established in 1898, mainly by Okakura Tenshin, who had the ideal to create a Japanese painting style proper for a new age. Yokoyama Taikan, Shimomura Kanzan, Hishida Shunso and others participated in the Institute to realize Tenshin’s ideal, and proceeded to study Japanese painting without recoiling. They tried to establish new techniques by eliminating traditional drawing, and getting rid of any contours, but this attempt was not well received at that time. The Institute was for a time extinguished spontaneously.
In 1914, however, the Institute was re-established with Taikan and Kanzan playing the main roles, in order to accomplish the intention of Tenshin, who had died in the previous year. In the re-established Institute, each painter trained himself in his own way, and released various masterpieces and notable works.
This exhibition, in commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the re-establishment of Japan Art Institute, will display works by Inten painters, including Shunso, who flourished in its early period. They may be called pioneers of Japanese painting, which largely influenced the Japanese art world. We hope you will fully enjoy their masterpieces.