Special Exhibition Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Yamatane Museum of Art
The Best of the Yamatane Collection I
The Glories of Edo Painting:
Matabei, Jakuchū, and the Kanō and Rimpa Schools

Suzuki Kiitsu,
Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons,
Color on Gold-Leafed Paper,
19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Itō Jakuchū,
Fushimi Dolls,
Color on Paper,
1799, Yamatane Museum of Art

2 July (Sat.) - 21 August (Sun.) 2016
(Closed on 7/19, and on Mondays, except for 7/18)

Hours:10am - 5pm (Last admission at 4:30pm)

Admission Fees: 1,200 [1,000] yen; university and high school students: 900 [800] yen; middle school and younger children: free of charge
*Figures in brackets are for groups of 20 or more, advance tickets, repeaters with used tickets, and those who are wearing kimono.
*Disability ID Holders and one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge.

Organized by: Yamatane Museum of Art and Nikkei Inc.

Highlights of the Exhibition

Chapter 1:

Attributed to Tosa Mitsuyoshi, Pine Tree and Autumn Plants, Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, Edo Period, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Painting by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu, Fragment of the Shinkokinshū Poetry Anthology: Deer, Ink, Gold and Silver on Paper, Edo Period, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Iwasa Matabei, Court Ladies Enjoying Wayside Chrysanthemums [Important Cultural Property], Ink and Light Color on Paper, Edo Period, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kanō Tsunenobu, The Battle of the Flowers between the Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei Teams, Color on Silk, Edo Period, 17th to 18th Centuries, Yamatane Museum of Art

Itō Jakuchū, Fushimi Dolls, Color on Paper, Edo Period, 1799, Yamatane Museum of Art

Ike no Taiga, A View of Higashiyama, Ink and Light Color on Silk Satin (Kōhon), Edo Period, 18th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Attributed to Nagasawa Rosetsu, Chinese Children at Play [Important Art Object], Color on Silk, Edo Period, 18th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Sakai Hōitsu, Autumn Plants and Quails [Important Art Object], Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Tani Bunchō, Poet's House with Magnolia Kobus, Color on Silk, Edo Period, 1792, Yamatane Museum of Art

Suzuki Kiitsu, Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Tsubaki Chinzan, View of Mt. Kunō [Important Cultural Property], Color on Silk, Edo Period, 1837, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kishi Renzan, Birds and Flowers, Color on Paper, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Okamoto Shūki, Peacocks, Color on Silk, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Reizei Tamechika, Warriors, Color on Silk, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Chapter 2:

Yokoyama Taikan, Mt. Kisen, Color on Paper, Taishō Period, 1919, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, After a Mountain Shower, Color on Silk, Shōwa Period, 1943, Yamatane Museum of Art

Uemura Shōen, Firefly, Color on Silk, Taishō Period, 1913, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kobayashi Kokei, Cat, Color on Paper, Shōwa Period, 1946, Yamatane Museum of Art

Approximately 50 works are to be displayed.

The Yamatane Museum of Art opened on July 7, 1966. In July of 2016, fifty years later, we are launching a series of special exhibitions featuring superb works selected from our collection: The Best of the Yamatane Collection. This exhibition, the first in that series, presents our Edo-period paintings en masse.

Our museum is known for specializing in modern and contemporary nihonga. The collection, however, also contains Edo-period paintings. While small in scale, that part of the collection, which includes two Important Cultural Properties and three Important Art Objects, consists of works of excellent quality that provide an overview of the history of painting in the Edo period from the start of the sixteenth century, when the Tokugawa shogunate was established, to its final years in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Indeed, Edo-period art inspired the collection behind our museum: Yamazaki Taneji, the founder of our museum, first saw a painting by the Edo-period artist Sakai Hōitsu when he was serving his apprenticeship. That stimulated him to collect and, notably, to build a significant collection of Rimpa school works.

The Edo period saw a major expansion of the segment of the population interested in literature and art, to include not only aristocrats and members of the warrior class but also a growing number of the common people. It also saw the emergence of blazing stars, artists with brilliant and highly individual talents, who created new trends. This exhibition introduces superb works representing the important schools that then flourished, from the Rimpa school's Tawaraya Sōtatsu and Hōitsu to Iwasa Matabei, who is regarded as the founding father of ukiyoe, Ike no Taiga, who created literati paintings, Itō Jakuchū, famed for his innovative, eccentric approach, and paintings by members of the Kanō, Maruyama Shijō, and Yamato-e Revivalist schools. In commemoration of our fiftieth anniversary, the exhibition also includes works by modern nihonga artists with whom our museum has had close ties, including Yokoyama Taikan, Kawai Gyokudō, and Uemura Shōen.

Iwasa Matabei, Court Ladies Enjoying Wayside Chrysanthemums [Important Cultural Property], Ink and Light Color on Paper, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Attributed to Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Chinese Black Pines and Maple Trees, Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Painting by Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Calligraphy by Hon'ami Kōetsu, Fragment of the Shinkokinshū Poetry Anthology: Deer, Ink, Gold and Silver on Paper, 17th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Sakai Hōitsu, Autumn Plants and Quails [Important Art Object], Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Suzuki Kiitsu, Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, Color on Gold-Leafed Paper, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kishi Renzan, Birds and Flowers, Color on Paper, Edo Period, 19th Century, Yamatane Museum of Art

Yokoyama Taikan, Mt. Kisen, Color on Paper, 1919, Yamatane Museum of Art

Kawai Gyokudō, After a Mountain Shower, Color on Silk, 1943, Yamatane Museum of Art

Uemura Shōen, Firefly, Color on Silk, 1913, Yamatane Museum of Art