An exhibition featuring the works of Yuichi Takahashi and Seiki Kuroda, both of whom are two of Japan’s leading Western-style painters and who are also known as the “fathers of modern Western-style painting,” is being held at the Prefectural Museum of Art in Utsunomiya City.
Approximately 70 works are on display at the Prefectural Museum of Art, including works by Yuichi Takahashi, a Western painter representing the early Meiji period, and Seiki Kuroda, who replaced Takahashi after returning from studying abroad in France. .
Among these, Takahashi’s “Yamagata City Map” depicts the city center centering on the Yamagata Prefectural Office in the early Meiji period in darker colors.
Oil paintings are less likely to deteriorate compared to photographs taken at the same time, and Takahashi was trying to popularize oil paintings in Japan by creating many practical landscape paintings and portraits.
On the other hand, “Hanano”, which Kuroda created from the late Meiji period to the early Taisho period, depicts three women in vivid colors.
It is said that Kuroda drew on the experience he gained in France, where he studied abroad, to create many works that incorporated expressions of bright light, and breathed new life into the world of Japanese Western painting.
Yasuhiro Shida, curator of the Prefectural Museum of Art, said, “I hope that by seeing the works of Japan’s leading Western painters up close, people will enjoy seeing the change of generations between these two artists.”
This exhibition is open until June 16th.
Tags: exhibition featuring works Yuichi Takahashi Seiki Kuroda fathers modern Western painting Utsunomiya NHK Tochigi Prefecture News
