Special Exhibition of the works from the Collection
LOOK BACK: Japanese Modern Painting

Fujishima Takeji, Breaking Waves at Daio Misaki, 1932

About

Date

Saturday, April 26 - Sunday, July 6, 2025

Location

Temporary Exhibition Galleries 1-4

Hours

9:30 a.m. -5:00 p.m.

Closed

Mondays (except May 5), May 7

Admission fee

Adults: 700 (500) yen
Students: 600 (400) yen
High school students and younger: Free
Prices in parentheses are for groups of more than 20 persons.
Persons with disability, one person accompanying them are admitted free of charge.

Organization

■Organized by
Mie Prefectural Art Museum

■With the grant of
Mie Prefectural Art Museum Assistance Foundation
 

Exhibition Overview

   In the late 19th century, when Japan was rapidly promoting modernization, various technologies and ideas were introduced from the West. This wave also reached the field of art. From the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912), painters aspiring to Western-style painting emerged one after another, and the study of Western-style painting, including oil painting, began in earnest in Japan. During the Meiji period, art schools were established to specialize in the study of art, and some artists went abroad to study painting, and Western-style painting developed as a new art form.
   The paintings they produced were eventually called ‘YOUGA’, in contrast to ‘NIHONGA’, which used traditional Japanese painting methods originally found in Japan. In the great swell of modernity, painters learnt a great deal from the West and, through trial and error, produced Western-style paintings that were uniquely Japanese.
   The Mie Prefectural Art Museum has made Western-style painting one of the collection's acquisition policies and has held numerous exhibitions focusing on Western-style painting and Western-style painters. This exhibition looks back on the period from the Meiji era to the early Showa era, focusing on Western-style painting, which occupies an important position in the museum's collection, and explores the appeal of modern art.


⇒ List of the Works

Matsumoto Shunsuke, Building, c. 1947