"Shimomura Kansan Exhibition" (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) Opening Report: Re-examining the Giant of Modern Japanese Painting in His First Major Retrospective in 13 Years
The Shimomura Kansan exhibition at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, is a major retrospective aiming to re-evaluate the giant of modern Japanese painting.Summary
The major retrospective exhibition for Shimomura Kansan (1873–1930), a giant of modern Japanese painting, has opened at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, marking his first large-scale retrospective in the Kanto region in 13 years. Kansan was born into a family of Noh actors, studied under Hashimoto Gahō, and was a first-generation student at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts). After resigning with Okakura Tenshin, he participated in the establishment of the Japan Art Institute and, following study abroad, pioneered new horizons in Japanese art alongside Yokoyama Taikan and Hishida Shunsō. While Kansan is less famous than Taikan or Shunsō among the general public, the exhibition of over 150 works reveals astonishing technical skill and breadth of expression. Curator Reiko Nakamura hopes the exhibition will boost Kansan's re-evaluation, moving beyond the traditional view of him as merely "moderate, rooted in traditional expression" to reveal a figure far from mannerism who successfully connected tradition to the present.
(Source：美術手帖)