Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Uemura Shoen's birth, this major retrospective presents the artist's achievements by exhibiting a large number of her works. In her art, Shoen pursued a distinctive ideal that was fundamentally different from the images of women depicted during the same time by artists such as Kaburaki Kiyokata or Kitano Tsunetomi. A pioneer for the other outstanding women artists who would follow, Shoen became a beacon for new, aspiring artists, and triggering the emergence of a large cohort of women Nihonga painters, including Ikeda Shoen and Shima Seien. Having broken new ground with her own lineage of bijinga (paintings of beautiful women) in the Kyoto art world, which was steeped in the traditions of the Shijo School, in many respects, Uemura Shoen seems to have been destined to serve as a pioneer, a role in which she succeeded magnificently.
This exhibition showcases over one hundred of the artist's most important works from her early period through to her latter years, including her most important works, such as the Important Cultural Properties Mother and Child (held by The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) and Jo-no-mai (Dance Performed in Noh Play, heldby Tokyo University of the Arts).
It provides an opportunity to reassess the true value of the art of Uemura Shoen, who was the first woman artist to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit, and who left an indelible mark on the history of art in the modern era.
Information about the Exhibition
<Date>
March 29, 2025 – June 1, 2025 (Sun)
Early period: March 29 – May 11
Late period: May 13 – June 1
Closed days: Monday, Wednesday, May 7
＊Open on Monday, April 28 and May 5 (Mon./holiday)
Organizers:
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, Nikkei Inc., Television Osaka, Inc., The Kyoto Shimbun, KOBE SHIMBUN
<Venue>
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka 4F Galleries
