In the 19th century, painters began stepping out of their studios to work outdoors under natural light. This exhibition features landscape paintings by French artists of the Impressionist era, along with works from the preceding and following periods, selected from works deposited with the museum.

Eugène Boudin (1824–1898) was known for his seascapes. His remarkable renderings of skies above the water, capturing the effects of light and atmosphere, were praised by painter Camille Corot and poet Charles Baudelaire, and influenced Impressionist artists including Claude Monet (1840–1926). Antwerp, Ships on the Scheldt was painted during Boudin’s stay in Belgium, where he had taken refuge from the Franco-Prussian War.

Boudin is also known for having introduced the young Monet to painting en plein air. In Spring, Willow Trees along the Epte River, Monet depicts the river that flows through Giverny, where he settled in 1883. He painted the poplars and willows along its banks again and again. Later, he went on to produce series such as Haystacks and Water Lilies, in which he repeatedly painted the same subjects at different times of day and under changing light. Spring, Willow Trees along the Epte River can be seen as a forerunner to those later series.

Alfred Sisley (1839–1899), a leading figure in the Impressionist movement, produced nearly 900 oil paintings, the vast majority of them landscapes. Road to the Entrance of the Village was painted in 1880, the first year of a two-year period when Sisley lived in Veneux, about 70 kilometers south-southeast of Paris. He later moved to nearby Moret-sur-Loing, where he continued to work. This painting is thought to depict scenery in that region.

The Impressionists at times used “optical mixture,” placing unmixed colors side by side on the canvas so they were blended by the viewer’s eye. Neo-Impressionists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac (1863–1935) applied scientific and systematic theory to the division of brushstrokes, creating the pointillist technique. In 1892, a year after the death of his close friend Seurat, Signac sailed to the southern French port town of Saint-Tropez. He was so taken with the place that he wrote, “I have here enough to work on for the rest of my life. What a joyful discovery,” and decided to have a villa there. In Saint-Tropez, the Point, he decoratively rendered the brilliant Mediterranean light and its reflections on the sea using elongated patches of brilliant color rather than points.

We invite you to observe how the light and atmosphere that captivated these artists found expression in their paintings.

Domoto Insho was a Kyoto painter in every sense—born in Kyoto, based there throughout his career, and living there until the end of his days. After his art-world debut in 1919, he rose to prominence with incredible speed, propelled by his extraordinary technical skill and originality. He was honored with the Order of Culture from the Japanese government and named an honorary citizen of Kyoto. Domoto Insho’s family, which played a leading role in the Kyoto art world, can truly be described as an extended clan of artists.

Insho was one of nine siblings. His eldest brother was a performing arts researcher, his second brother a lacquer artist, and four of his five sisters married either lacquer artists or Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) painters. His fourth brother, Shiro, was known for supporting Insho, and Shiro’s son, Domoto Hisao, also became a well-known painter. Hisao graduated from the Nihonga department of the Kyoto City Technical School of Art and began his career as a Nihonga painter, earning repeated acceptance to the Nitten (Japan Fine Art Exhibition). When Insho departed for Europe in 1952, Hisao accompanied him. This experience led Hisao to study in France in 1955, where he transitioned from Nihonga to oil painting and developed an abstract style in response to the concept of Art Informel championed at the time by French art critic Michel Tapié. Insho himself also produced Informel-style abstract paintings that reflected his connection with Tapié, a connection made possible by Hisao.

Another member of the Domoto family, Domoto Mototsugu, married the adopted daughter of Insho’s eldest brother, Kansei, and joined Insho’s painting academy Tokyusha in 1951. The marriage was arranged by the painter Mori Shumei, who had studied alongside Insho at the painting academy Shokosha and married one of Insho’s sisters. Mototsugu studied Nihonga at the Kyoto City Technical School of Painting, where his classmates included Ono Hidetaka and Shimomura Ryonosuke, who founded the Pan Real Art Association. As Insho, their instructor, shifted toward abstraction and former classmates broke with tradition in pursuit of new modes of Nihonga, Mototsugu also experimented with abstraction for a time. However, after a trip to China in 1979, he established a representational style, depicting landscapes shaped by his unique worldview.

Tokyusha, where Mototsugu also studied, was founded in 1933 and named by Insho’s student Miwa Chosei. Chosei, known for his keen judgment and initiative, recognized Insho’s talent early on, as indicated by the fact that he asked to become Insho’s student at a time when Insho himself was still an art student. After Insho’s death, Chosei succeeded him as head of Tokyusha and remained a central figure among Insho’s pupils. Before World War II, Tokyusha not only organized the Tokyusha Exhibition but also held sales-oriented exhibitions of smaller works such as the Kisaragi-kai, Shunki-kai, and Ryokuso-kai Exhibitions. These events offered more than just opportunities to demonstrate artistic ability through exhibitions. They also provided valuable settings for building relationships with collectors and buyers, offering a practical foundation for sustaining a painting career. After a wartime hiatus, the Tokyusha Exhibition reached its 50th edition in 1993, upon which it was suspended. It was revived in 2011, and marked its 63rd edition in May 2025. This section features works by Domoto Insho and other members of the Domoto family, along with works by Miwa Chosei, Mageshi Mitsuo, Yamamoto Sokyu, Yamamoto Tomokatsu, Ishikawa Tadashi, Iwasawa Shigeo, and Miwa Akihisa, all of whom studied at Tokyusha and went on to distinguished careers.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto acquired 51 photographs in 2024. They were previously owned by Chicago-based collectors Arnold and Temmie Gilbert, who built their collection between the 1960s and 1980s while cultivating relationships with American photographers. Many visitors may already be familiar with the Gilbert Collection, which consists of 1,050 works of modern photography that the museum acquired in 1986 with the cooperation of Kyocera Corporation. It includes many major works by such figures as Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams, and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost photography collections, as the majority of the works are original prints made by the photographers themselves.

The newly acquired works include rare prints that were in the possession of Arnold Gilbert until his death in 2001, along with works connected with family memories, offering glimpses into the Gilberts’ collecting sensibility and their personal relationships. A print of Edward Steichen’s portrait of Greta Garbo, for example, was given to him by his mother-in-law in 1970 for his 50th birthday, and remained on display in his home for many years. Whereas the 1986 acquisitions can be seen as a comprehensive textbook of modern photography history, this newly acquired body of work reflects a more personal sensibility and opens a window on aspects of the collectors’ lives. By presenting these works together with those from the earlier collection, we hope to offer new perspectives on even the most familiar images.

Lacquer Panels for Folding Screen, “Seimyo – Seika (Refinement and Nobleness)” is a collaborative work produced by sixteen artists at the forefront of the crafts world in the Taisho era (1912–1926) and early Showa era (1926–1989). Around 1929, it was presented to Sato Keitaro (1868–1940), an industrialist from northern Kyushu known as the “King of Coal.” Sato had donated the funds to build the Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum (now the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum), which opened in 1926 as Japan’s first institution for the permanent exhibition of contemporary art. The museum included a gallery dedicated to crafts, and its opening exhibition, the 1st Art Exhibition Supporting Prince Shotoku, presented a comprehensive view of contemporary art by displaying crafts alongside Nihonga (Japanese-style painting), Western-style painting, and sculpture. At the time, the Teiten (Imperial Art Exhibition) had no crafts division, making this a groundbreaking development. When a fourth division, for Arts and Crafts, was added to the Teiten in 1927, the Tokyo Prefectural Art Museum served as the exhibition’s venue. This outcome reflected years of persistent advocacy by artists and signaled the recognition of crafts within Japan’s art system.

On the reverse side of Seimyo (Nobleness), Masaki Naohiko (1862–1940), then head of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts) and a driving force behind the museum’s founding, recorded the work’s origins. His inscription conveys the gratitude of the artists, who welcomed the establishment of a competitive platform for crafts alongside painting and sculpture.

The participating artists included Rokkaku Shisui, a student of the Tokyo Fine Arts School in its first year, who studied lacquer and worked under Okakura Kakuzo (also known as Tenshin, 1863–1913) in the preservation and study of cultural properties. Another participant was Katori Hotsuma, who studied metal casting at the same school and conducted research on classical arts of the Nara period (710–794) and Tang-dynasty China (618–907). Also taking part were Itaya Hazan, Uematsu Houbi, Unno Kiyoshi, Akatsuka Jitoku, and Shimizu Nanzan, who, together with Rokkaku and Katori, established the crafts association Kogei Saisaikai. Tsuda Shinobu, who studied in France and was among the earliest to call for art exhibitions dedicated to crafts, was later praised by Takamura Toyochika (1890–1972)—a pioneer of modern metalwork—as someone “ever mindful of the larger picture and intent on shaping the broader course of the crafts world.”

This section, focusing on Seimyo – Seika (Refinement and Nobleness), presents works by artists who played a key role in the dawn of creative crafts during the years leading toward modernism.

Kiyomizu Rokubey VI had ties with the Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) painter Domoto Insho, and for many years a framed painting by Domoto, featuring the character for “ceramics” against an abstract background, hung in the entrance of the Kiyomizu family home.

Born in 1901 into the distinguished Kiyomizu Rokubey family of Kyo-yaki (Kyoto ware) ceramicists, his given name was Shotaro. He studied Nihonga under leading Kyoto masters such as Takeuchi Seiho and Yamamoto Shunkyo at the Kyoto City Technical School of Art and the Kyoto City Technical School of Painting (now Kyoto City University of Arts). After serving in the military, he began studying under his father, Rokubey V, in 1925, learning every aspect of ceramic production. When the fourth division of the Teiten (Imperial Art Exhibition), dedicated to arts and crafts, was newly established for the eighth edition in 1927, he submitted a work that was accepted. He went on to win special awards at the 12th and 15th Teiten. From early in his career, Rokubey VI achieved remarkable success at the Teiten and its successor exhibitions (the Bunten, or Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition, and the Nitten, or Japan Fine Art Exhibition) and became a leading figure in Showa era (1926–1989) ceramics, holding numerous solo exhibitions and receiving frequent invitations to show his work in group exhibitions.

His style varied widely, from early Art Deco-style decorative works to those drawing on classical traditions, but he is especially renowned for decorative techniques including three-color glaze, genyo (deep reddish-brown glaze with a mottled effect), shuyo (rust-colored glaze with a matte texture), and kokisai (thick, glassy yellow-tinged glaze). Drawing on his background in Nihonga as well as his mastery of ceramic techniques and wealth experience, Rokubey VI produced many extraordinary works. As befitting an artist born into a celebrated Kyoto ceramics family, his work is marked by an imposing yet graceful style.

In 1962, Rokubey VI was appointed a member of the Japan Art Academy and dedicated himself to educating and mentoring younger artists, becoming a central figure not only in Kyoto but in the broader Japanese ceramics world. In 1980, while delivering a greeting at the reception for an exhibition of Kyoto ceramics by multiple generations of the Kiyomizu Rokubey family in Tokyo, he suddenly collapsed and died. His unexpected death was deeply mourned by ceramic artists and enthusiasts not only in Kyoto but throughout Japan.

The museum’s Western-style painting collection consists primarily of works by artists active in Kyoto, including painters who studied under Asai Chu at the Kansai Bijutsuin; Suda Kunitaro, who was born in Kyoto and spent his life there, along with his students; and Kishida Ryusei, who also lived in the city for a time. At the same time, the collection also includes works by artists who occupy important places in the history of modern painting, regardless of their connection to Kyoto. In recent years, the museum has purchased major works by AI-MITSU (1907–1946) and Matsumoto Shunsuke (1912–1948), and has received donations of works by Matsumoto and Aso Saburo (1913–2000).

In this exhibition, we present works by Matsumoto Shunsuke, AI-MITSU, and Aso Saburo from the museum’s collection, including newly acquired works, previously held works, and works deposited with the museum.

These three artists were active in the early Showa era (1926–1989) and shared close personal ties. AI-MITSU and Matsumoto Shunsuke studied painting at Taiheiyo Art Research Institute in Tokyo, while Aso Saburo studied at its successor, the Taiheiyo Art School, but the three were not yet connected at the time. Matsumoto and AI-MITSU became acquainted around 1932, when Matsumoto formed the Akamame-kai group. His relationship with Aso had already begun a year earlier, in 1931, when Aso joined the Taiheiyo Modern Art Research Society, which Matsumoto had launched with fellow students from the research institute. Around the same time, AI-MITSU and Aso Saburo also became acquainted. In 1943, Matsumoto Shunsuke, AI-MITSU, Aso Saburo and their associates established Shinjingakai. Toward the end of World War II, when there were draconian restrictions on artistic expression, this group enabled them to paint and exhibit freely according to their own convictions. The activities of the three painters and their circle offer crucial insight into how artists continued to work during wartime and the postwar years in Japan. After AI-MITSU died in the war and Matsumoto passed away not long after the war’s end, Aso Saburo continued working into the early Heisei era (1989–2019), adhering to the beliefs they had shared. The museum hopes to continue presenting their works, which continue to inspire reflection on the role of art in society, in a variety of forms.

Since 2008, the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto has conducted Curatorial Studies, an episodic program that presents research outcomes regarding specific issues that the curators have identified in the course of their daily activities at the museum. The 16th edition features guest artist Yu Araki (b. 1985), a Kyoto-based artist and filmmaker active both in Japan and abroad, for an exhibition entitled Curatorial Studies 16 | Yu Araki: Reorienting—Across the Pacific, a Century Apart.

Araki first crossed the Pacific to the United States at the age of three. With limited English at the time, he found ways to communicate with friends who spoke other languages through drawings—a formative experience that later led him to embark on a career in visual art. Today, Araki continues to move between various countries, cities, and regions, engaging with myriad people and cultures along the way. These encounters inform his practice, resulting in works that blend humor with critical insight, while exploring cross-cultural exchange, historical friction, and the layered narratives that lie beneath the surface of history.

This exhibition presents a selection of Araki’s new and earlier works, which embody a gaze that transcends borders, in dialogue with pieces from the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Selected by the museum curator, these include works by three artists of Japanese descent who lived in the United States: Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953), Eitaro Ishigaki (1893-1958), and Hideo Noda (1908-1939). Illuminating both past and present, this exhibition delves into the relationship between movement, border-crossing, and artistic expression.

In a world still marked by war, economic uncertainty, and ideologies that divide “us” and “them,” this exhibition echoes the historical circumstances these artists faced nearly a century ago. We hope it offers visitors living together in this complex world a moment to reflect on their own place in an ever-shifting global landscape, and consider where to go from here.

Lastly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Yu Araki for his tireless enthusiasm and effort to make this exhibition possible.