The Yamatane Museum of Art is commemorating the fifty-fifth anniversary of its founding with a special exhibition of the work of the nihonga artist Okumura Togyū (1889–1990), of whose masterpieces the museum has a large collection. Our museum's founder, Yamazaki Taneji (1893–1983), collected works by artists who were his contemporaries and with whom he had direct personal relationships, acting on his belief that "What is transmitted through a painting is the artist's humanity." He had a particularly deep friendship with Togyū and told him, early in his career, "I only buy paintings by people I am certain show promise." Having recognized the artist's abilities, Taneji supported him, and enjoyed warm family-wide interactions with him, for half a century. Our museum is now famed for its remarkable collection of 135 superb paintings by Togyū.

Togyū entered the painting school directed by Kajita Hanko (1870–1917) at sixteen, and was guided throughout his life by Kobayashi Kokei (1883–1957), a fellow student whom he regarded as his lifelong mentor. While Togyū was a late bloomer—he was thirty-eight when his work was first selected for the Japan Art Institute Exhibition (Inten)—he achieved considerable fame after reaching his mid-forties, and lived to the age of 101, continuing to create until the very end of his life. This exhibition focuses on works he showed at the Inten, his main center of activity, tracing the full arc of his artistic career, including celebrated works such as Cherry Blossoms at Daigo-ji Temple and Maelstroms at Naruto.

When he was over eighty years old, Togyū said, "From now until my death, I want to paint works brimming with life, even if clumsy, never forgetting my initial passion," and declared, "Art is never perfect. No matter how far you go, it always ends with imperfection." We hope visitors will enjoy experiencing the fascination of this quietly dedicated artist, one of the most outstanding and best loved nihonga painters of the modern and contemporary periods.