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Collection GalleryThe 3rd Collection Gallery Exhibition 2015-2016 (171 works in all)

Collection Gallery

The 3rd Collection Gallery Exhibition 2015-2016 (171 works in all)

Exhibition Period

8. 19 (Wed.) - 10. 4 (Sun.), 2015

Overview

 The third collection gallery exhibition of this year focuses on two special exhibitions.
 The first special exhibition features works by Niokawa Seiichi, who was born in Mobara City, Chiba prefecture in 1897 and studied paintings on his own. After his painting entitled "Still Life with a Basket of Fruit" was accepted for the 3rd "Dokuritsu Exhibition" in 1933, he continued to play an active role every year in the same exhibition during and after World WarⅡ. In his later years, he expanded his activities overseas, holding solo exhibitions in Belgium and Mexico. Regrettably, he succumbed to illness and passed away in 1983. Niokawa aimed at a fusion of Eastern and Western paintings by utilizing a mixed technique of oil painting and black ink, and applying Japanese paper to canvas. His experimental efforts are particularly apparent in 120 of his works comprised of various drawings contributed to our museum since April 2015. These works connote a similarity to the works by Georges-Henri Rouault and Marc Chagall, which also encompass Oriental spirituality. Because of this, selected paintings and woodblock prints by Rouault and Chagall have also been included in this special exhibition.

The second special exhibition features works by Domoto Hisao, who regrettably passed away in 2013. Born as the nephew of a renowned Japanese-style painter, Domoto Insho in Kyoto in 1928, he studied Japanese-style paintings at Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting (present Kyoto City University of Arts), and became a promising Japanese-style painter. He was accepted for the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) while he was still a student, and received the special commendation prize at Nitten when he was only 23 years old. However, he started to work on oil painting after he went to France in 1955, and developed a unique style of abstract painting, influenced by the "art informel" movement. Never satisfied with just one style of art, Domoto Hisao continued to make splendid changes in his artistic style throughout his life, and our existent collection of his works, including our recently acquired "Lotus" series which he produced during his final years, explores the whole gamut of his remarkable career.

The Nihonga section features paintings entitled "Early autumn scenes in Japanese-style paintings." It features a variety of scenes from early autumn with a lingering late summer atmosphere, such as clusters of ripe grapes depicted by Hirai Baisen in his "Noontide" and by Kanada Waro in his "Grapevines and Fox," the comparison of the fierce-looking "Cockscombs" depicted by Inagaki Chusei with the elegant "Cockscombs" depicted by Tokuoka Shinsen, a typhoon scene captured by Okamoto Utaro in his "After the Storm" and the autumn moon depicted by Yamada Bunko.

Kanada Waro,  Grapevines and Fox
Kanada Waro, Grapevines and Fox, 1919

In the section entitled "Artists + Books (This is a book)," the relationship between artists and their media for expression is being explored with the word "book" as a keyword. It is noteworthy that "Cirque de L'Etoile Filante" by Rouault and "Les Âmes mortes" by Chagall located near the entrance to the collection gallery exhibition were originally published as "books". Even though they served as illustrations for the text, they were also published as independent woodblock prints. For this exhibition, they have been framed for display, begging the question of whether they should be perceived as "a book" or "a piece of art".

In the craft section, exhibits under the title, "Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kamoda Shoji" are being displayed in relation to the special exhibition entitled, "Kuriki Tatsusuke Retrospective" being held on the 3rd floor. Kuriki Tasusuke studied under Tomimoto Kenkichi at Kyoto City Museum of Fine Arts (present Kyoto City University of Arts), with Kamoda Shoji as his senior in the same department. What did Kuriki inherit from these two masters who had such different artistic styles, and what did he create by himself? By looking at the exhibition on the 3rd floor, our visitors will come to perceive a unique aspect of ceramic art in Kyoto after the war.

In the Kawai Kanjiro section, his works from around the 1940s are being featured, centering on his representative work "Flower Design Flat Vase with White Glaze" which won the Grand Prix 20 years after its completion at the international craft exhibition "La Triennale di Milano" in 1957. This was a transitional period for Kawai Kanjiro, who was in the process of changing his artistic style from his former style deeply influenced by the Mingei movement to the simpler, but more liberated unique style of creation that he ultimately developed after the war. A variety of Kawai's experiments exploring new directions, such as creating cubism-like quadrangles, and applying various kinds of glaze and patterns to the same form of objects, are being featured.

Kawai Kanjiro, Flat Vase of Grass and Flower Design
Kawai Kanjiro,
Flat Vase of Grass and Flower Design, 1939

Themes of Exhibition

  • ・Special Feature1 : NIOKAWA Seiichi
  • ・Paintings and Prints by Georges ROUAULT and Marc CHAGALL
  • ・Japanese-style Paintings of Early Autumn Scenes
  • ・Artists+Books
  • ・TOMIMOTO Kenkichi and KAMODA Shoji
  • ・Selected Works of KAWAI Kanjiro from the KAWAKATSU Collection
  • ・Special Feature 2: DOMOTO Hisao
  • ・[Outside] Outdoor Sculptures

List of Exhibits

The 3rd Collection Gallery Exhibition 2015-2016

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