“Yokoyama Taikan: 150th Anniversary of His Birth” (organized by The Mainichi Newspapers and others) is on at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, near the Palaceside Building, through May 27. Have you seen it yet?
Thirty-three shops in the Palaceside Building have tied up with the exhibition and are running a campaign of discounts and other perks for customers who show a ticket (a stub is fine) (the photo above is the flyer).
Services range from discounts on selected menus and services to complimentary drinks and desserts and small gifts. During the campaign through May 26, one person showing a ticket may receive the service once per shop. (The building is closed Sundays and holidays, so it cannot be used then.)
Taikan was born in the first year of Meiji as the son of a Mito-domain samurai, studied under Tenshin Okakura at the newly opened Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts), and when Tenshin was driven from the school they founded the Japan Art Institute as an independent group, opening a new era of Nihonga there.
This exhibition looks back in three periods: Meiji, when he “sought innovation within tradition”; Taisho, when he “developed his individuality in a climate that respected self-expression”; and Showa, when he “rose to the top of the Nihonga world.”
The highlight is “Seisei Ruten” (Metempsychosis). It depicts the life of water through a day’s passage and the turning of the seasons — famous as Japan’s longest picture scroll, 40.7 meters. Following the continuous landscape, one is said to feel the eternal cycle of nature.
Also on view are some 90 works including “White-robed Kannon,” whose whereabouts became known again after about 100 years (the photo below is the Mainichi morning edition of April 13 reporting the preview the day before opening) and “Comet.” The representative “Ultramarine Fuji,” a forceful take on natural beauty (the picture on the top flyer; on view through May 6), can also be seen.
Hours are 10:00–17:00 (until 20:00 Fridays and Saturdays); last entry 30 minutes before close. Closed Mondays (open April 30). Admission: general 1,500 yen, university students 1,100 yen, high-school students 600 yen, junior-high and under free.
