The Nazi Party, which came to power in Germany in 1933, denounced art movements such as Expressionism, Dada, and New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) as immoral and corrupting “degenerate art” that conflicted with its ideology. As a result, many avant-garde artists found themselves in circumstances that made it virtually impossible to continue their work or sustain their livelihoods.

Based in Hannover, Kurt Schwitters was known for his Merz Pictures (collages incorporating printed matter, yarn, wire, and other materials) as well as his wide-ranging work in sculpture, poetry, theater, and architecture. After his works were removed from public museums and the entire family of a close friend was arrested by the Gestapo, he fled to Norway in 1937. When Germany invaded Scandinavia in 1940, Schwitters escaped to the UK. There he was labeled an “enemy alien” and sent to an internment camp. He was not released until November 1941, after which he settled in London, where he produced the works featured here.

While many artists went into exile, Hannah Höch, a central figure in Berlin Dada, chose to remain in Germany. Labeled a “cultural Bolshevist” and denied opportunities to exhibit her work, she was forced into seclusion. Her painting Anxiety reflects the hardship and solitude she faced during this period.

In June 1940, northern France, including Paris, was occupied by Germany, while the south came under the control of a puppet regime. Albert Marquet, a Fauvist painter who had long criticized the Nazis, fled Paris for French Algeria to escape the war. Cruise Ships in the Port, painted during this period, depicts the port of Algiers, a subject he returned to often.

Meanwhile, Henri Matisse, a leading figure in Fauvism, remained in France. Small Blue Dress Before a Mirror, painted in 1937 with World War II looming on the horizon, would later follow a remarkable trajectory due to the tumult of war. Originally owned by the Paris-based art dealer Paul Rosenberg, the painting was confiscated by the Nazis after the occupation of Paris due to Rosenberg’s Jewish background. During this time, the Nazis systematically looted artworks, sending ideologically conforming art such as classicist painting to Germany, while selling off or exchanging works labeled “degenerate” to obtain foreign currency or acquire art that they deemed more suitable. In 1942, Matisse’s painting was traded to the German dealer Gustav Rochlitz for two 17th-century Dutch works, and subsequently sold to the French dealer Paul Petrides. After passing through several dealers’ hands in the postwar years, it was returned to Rosenberg, subsequently acquired by the well-known American collector Norton Simon, and entered this museum’s collection in 1978.

These works speak forcefully to contemporary viewers about the ways in which war and ideology cast dark shadows over both art and the lives of those who produce it.

The Kose family is believed to be descended from Kose no Kanaoka, a painter active during the Heian period (794-1185), and the family was known for its mastery of Buddhist painting. Born in 1843 as the 38th head of the Kose family, Kose Shoseki was given the name Kanaoki. From a young age, he showed a strong interest in art. He studied Buddhist painting under his grandfather Kanahiko, and learned flower-and-bird painting from Kishi Renzan and landscape painting from Nakanishi Koseki. In 1860, he traveled from Himukai Daijingu Shrine to Edo (present-day Tokyo), sketching famous sites such as Mount Fuji along the way. In 1878, he traveled to Shanghai to study painting, and his reputation became widely known. That same year, he joined Mochizuki Gyokusen, Kono Bairei, and Kubota Beisen in submitting a proposal to the governor of Kyoto Prefecture to establish the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting. This led to the founding, here in Kyoto, of Japan’s first public painting school. After the school opened in 1880, Shoseki joined the faculty, and in 1886 was appointed as an instructor in the Southern School department, where he primarily taught literati painting. After resigning from the school in 1888, he was invited by Okakura Tenshin to teach at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, and he took a post there in 1889. He retired in 1894 and returned to Kyoto, where he continued to serve as a committee member for various art organizations and accepted commissions from the imperial household. He died at home in Kamigamo, Kyoto, in 1919, the same year he completed Picture Scroll of the Imperial Funeral of the Empress Dowager Shoken and delivered it to the Imperial Household Ministry.

In 2023, the museum received a comprehensive donation of works by Kose Shoseki and related materials. The collection includes the works of Shoseki himself; those of Yuseki, who married Shoseki’s eldest daughter and succeeded to the Kose family name; documents and materials pertaining to Shoseki; and calligraphy given to him as gifts by Chinese literati. In the Meiji era (1868-1912), cultural exchange between Japanese and Chinese literati grew more active, and visits by the latter to Japan became increasingly common. The calligraphic works once in Shoseki’s collection offer an intriguing glimpse into these exchanges. One such work, titled Sosaido and written by Qian Yi, is thought to be the name of Shoseki’s studio. This is based on an inscription on a silk wrapping cloth painted by Shoseki with lotus flowers, which reads “Painted at Sosaido.” Qian Yi’s gift is evidence of the close friendship between the two.

In Meiji-era (1868–1912) Japan, the government established a state structure centered on the emperor, and the political and economic hub of the country moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. As the imperial household relocated to the new capital, many people followed its lead, causing a steep decline in Kyoto’s population. With a drop in commissions, it became difficult for painters to sustain themselves on fees alone, and many began producing preparatory drawings for decoration of craft objects. Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) at the time maintained the styles of the Edo period (1603–1868), often focusing on traditional subjects from the natural world. These motifs were well suited to craft design, and painters collaborated with artisans to produce modern craft works featuring these new designs.

As time passed, the influence of Western painting spread widely, and Japanese-style paintings began to be painted with the assumption that they would be framed rather than scroll-mounted. This shift was connected to the emergence of various exhibitions, such as the National Industrial Exhibition, and the increase in Western-style architecture, which led to paintings being hung on walls instead of in the traditional alcoves. While framing had long existed in Japan, in forms such as horizontal tablets displayed at the entrances of temples, shrines, and buildings since ancient times, it was only from the Meiji era onward that framing of Japanese-style paintings became common practice. Both compositions and themes evolved in line with this change. One example of this is the depiction of laborers, departing from traditional subjects like beautiful flowers and birds or historical scenes, and instead reflecting contemporary society. Some works in our museum's collection are thought to have originally been mounted on scrolls, but later converted to framed works. We invite you to enjoy these intriguing examples of framed Japanese-style paintings.

“For satirical pictures to be truly excellent works of art, the artist’s keen eye for civilization’s flaws, wit, and deep affection for humanity must pervade the work.” —Hamada Chimei

The term “caricature” generally refers to sketch-like portraits that exaggerate physical features with humorous or satirical intent. From the 19th century onward, numerous prints showcasing artists’ keen observational skills were produced, including social satire by Goya and Daumier in the West, and the Hokusai manga, which depicted the everyday lives of ordinary people, in Japan. This selection showcases works from our museum’s collection of modern and contemporary prints, with the theme of “caricatures of people.”

Hamada Chimei was drafted during World War II, and his nightmarish experiences at the front inspired his highly acclaimed copperplate print series Elegy for a New Conscript. His insights, expressed in works depicting the misery of war and the human idiocy it exposes, extended to postwar Japanese society, and he produced numerous satirical works, often with a humorous edge. Marc Chagall’s Dead Souls is a series of illustrations for the novel of that title by his Russian compatriot Nikolai Gogol, which explores the dark side of humanity through the character of the customs officer Chichikov and his devious activities. However, the animals in Chagall’s work lend it a curious charm, softening the overall tone. Picture Book, a book of collages by Hannah Höch, the Berlin Dada artist known for her satirical wit, combines cutout photographs and colorful paper scraps to portray a variety of animals, some anthropomorphized. In Ikeda Masuo’s prints, human beings are depicted as comical and minuscule, almost as if reduced to the level of insects or animals. Okamoto Shinjiro transformed Van Gogh’s famously intense self-portrait into a humorous image of the artist through simple lines and shapes. Keeping Hamada’s words in mind, we invite you to witness the stern yet loving gaze cast on humanity by artists who lived through the tumultuous 20th century.

Since opening in 1963, this museum has organized a wide range of exhibitions, conducted research and educational programs, and actively expanded its collection. Our current collection policy states that we acquire works and materials related to artistic developments without restrictions based on category, and that we actively seek works spanning multiple categories. At the same time, our operational policy affirms a commitment to continuing the museum’s long-standing focus on crafts, reflecting the requests made by Kyoto City at the time of our establishment. In this sense, the museum’s activities and collecting practices seek to build a broad and cohesive view of modern art by positioning crafts as one of our key areas of focus while critically connecting its potential with other fields of expression, including Nihonga (Japanese-style painting), Western and Western-style painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and contemporary art. This approach is based on the belief that crafts should not be confined to a narrowly defined category, but understood in relation to other fields and to the lived experiences and sensibilities of people in each era of history.

The craft works on view in this section represent only a small fraction of the many works the museum has acquired in recent years through purchases and donations. Although all are classified as “crafts,” they range from large-scale, non-functional works to functional objects such as folding screens and vessels, and show remarkable diversity in terms of color and decoration. What unites them is the creators’ integration of material, image, form, and technique.

A museum’s collection reflects the character of that institution. In that sense, during exhibitions of our collection, where works from a range of fields are displayed throughout interconnected corridor-style galleries, we hope that craft works will not only spark interest in crafts themselves, but also encourage new awareness of connections with other areas of artistic expression.

Museum collections sometimes contain smaller, privately assembled collections. In the case of this museum, examples include the Shibakawa Collection and the Kawanishi Hide Collection. These groups of works reflect the intentions and personal attachment of the collectors who brought them together, adding new layers of meaning separate from the qualities of the works themselves.

The collection featured here is a group of Japanese Western-style paintings donated in full to this museum last year. It was assembled by Fujiwara Akira, who collected Japanese Western-style works (oils, watercolors, prints, drawings) while employed in the business sector. He was driven purely by a personal love of art. With the vision of creating a museum like the Okawa Museum of Art, he built a collection notable for its breadth and balance, tracing the development of Japanese Western-style painting from the Meiji era (1868-1912) through the Showa era (1926-1989).

The Fujiwara Akira Collection includes works by artists already familiar to visitors of this museum, such as Sakamoto Hanjiro and Suda Kunitaro. It also features figures like Nakamura Tsune, Murayama Kaita, and Chokai Seiji, whose works had not previously been represented here despite their importance. In addition, the generous donation enabled us to acquire works by artists whose presence we had long wished to strengthen, including Aoki Shigeru, Kumagai Morikazu, Koide Narashige, Yasui Sotaro, Umehara Ryuzaburo, Kanayama Heizo, Hasegawa Toshiyuki, Oka Shikanosuke, Noda Hideo, Matsumoto Shunsuke, and Aso Saburo. It also encompasses works by artists such as Hasegawa Rinjiro and Kamoi Rei, who are rarely included in national or public museum collections.

While selected works will be shown in future collection exhibitions and through loans to other museums, we are pleased, first of all, to present the entire collection here. We hope you will take pleasure in the character and depth of these works, brought together with great care and dedication.

In closing, we extend our most heartfelt thanks to Fujiwara Akira, who assembled this extraordinary collection over the course of a lifetime and generously donated it in its entirety to this museum.