Showa Art

Showa Art

  

Sanzo Wada, South Wind (1907)

  

 Tsuguharu Foujita, portrait, Ink and watercolor on paper   

  

 Ogura Yuki, Bathing Women, 1938, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art

 

Japanese painting in the early Shōwa period was largely dominated by Yasui Sotaro and Umehara Ryuzaburo, who introduced the concepts of pure art and abstract painting to the Nihonga tradition, and thus created a more interpretative version of that genre. This trend was further developed by Leonard Foujita and the Nika Society, to encompass surrealism. To promote these trends, the Independent Art Association (Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai) was formed in 1931.

During the World War II period, government controls and censorship meant that only patriotic themes could be expressed. Many artists were recruited into the government propaganda effort, and critical non-emotional review of their works is only just beginning.

In the post-war period, the government-sponsored Japan Art Academy (Nihon Geijutsuin) was formed in 1947, containing both nihonga and yōga divisions. Government sponsorship of art exhibitions has ended, but has been replaced by private exhibitions, such as the Nitten, on an even larger scale. Although the Nitten was initially the exhibition of the Japan Art Academy, since 1958 it has been run by a separate private corporation. Participation in the Nitten has become almost a prerequisite for nomination to the Japan Art Academy, which in itself is almost an unofficial prerequisite for nomination to the Order of Culture.

Important artists in the Shōwa period include:

 

Yasui Sotaro (1881-1955)
Sanzo Wada (1883-1967)
Umehara Ryuzaburo (1888-1986)
Yasuda Yukihiko (1884-1978)
Kobayashi Kokei (1883-1957)
Leonard Foujita (1886-1968)
Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928)
Koiso Ryouhei (1903-1988)
Kaii Higashiyama (1908-1999)
Ogura Yuki (1895-2000)

(Wikipedia)