Hello everyone

This is Staff N.

The other day, I went to the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum to see the works of my acquaintances.

This building has just received the “AIJ Prize” (work category) on April 19, 2022.

Opened as “Nagano Prefectural Shinano Museum” in 1966, it has been loved by the people of Nagano for more than 50 years. Over 50 years after its opening, it was completely renovated and reborn in April 2021 as the “Nagano Prefectural Art Museum”. Under the concept of “Landscape Museum”, the new main building is in harmony with the beautiful scenery around Shiroyama Park, and you can enjoy a magnificent view of the national treasure Zenkoji main hall from its rooftop.

In addition to the extensive exhibition space, there are many zones where you can enjoy it for free, and it is a truly “open museum” that is free like a park and can be easily visited by anyone, regardless of age or gender.

It was a wonderful space that made you want to stay all day long, such as a restaurant overlooking Zenkoji Temple, an open cafe overlooking the mountains, and a relaxing water garden.

Since it’s a big deal, I also went to Higashiyama Kaiikan.

Kaii Higashiyama was opened in April 1990 as an annex to the Shinano Museum of Art in Nagano Prefecture, with works and related books donated by the Japanese painter Kaii Higashiyama (1908-1999). The 970-plus collection includes 36 works such as “Green Sound”, “Hakuba no Mori”, and “Yu Silence”, as well as the early “European Landscape”, “Travel Sketch”, “Chinese Landscape”, and the series “Northern Europe”. The painter’s impression of nature and the whole production, such as the study and sketches of “Landscape”, “Kyoraku Shiki”, “Landscape where white horses can be seen”, and “Yamato Haruaki”, the preparatory work for the daily exhibition, and the trial production of the Toshodaiji Mikagedo barrier painting. It has a collection of works with a panoramic view of the statue.

I checked about Kaii Higashiyama here.

Kaii Higashiyama is a Japanese painter, print painter, and writer. He is one of the representative Japanese painters of the Showa era and is said to be a national painter in the field of landscape painting. He is a recipient of the Order of Culture, an honorary citizen of Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, and his real name is Shinkichi Higashiyama.

Born in Kaigandori, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, as the second son of his father, Kosuke, and his wife, Kuni, who ran a ship equipment dealer. Due to my father’s work, I moved to Nishidemachi, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture when I was 3 years old. I went to the Japanese art department. He studied under Yuuki Somei.

“Autumn of the Mountains” was exhibited for the first time at the 10th Imperial Exhibition in 1929 while attending school, and after graduating from art school in 1931, in 1933, at the University of Berlin (currently Humboldt University) in Germany. I studied abroad. In 1934, the exchange study abroad system started between Japan and Germany, and the German government will pay the study abroad expenses for two years as the first Japanese-German exchange student (the first international student of the German Academic Exchange Association from Japan). In November, I entered the Department of Art History, Faculty of Letters, University of Berlin, but returned to Japan with one year of scholarship payment due to my father’s seriousness.

In 1940 he married the daughter of Japanese painter Kawasaki Shoko. In the same year, he exhibited “Nagi”, which covered the scenery of Tanesashikaigan (eastern Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture) and the horses there on a sketch trip to the Tohoku region, at the 2600 AD Celebration Art Exhibition. There are about 17 works that seem to be based on Tanesashi in his life, and horses became the motif of Higashiyama’s works.

Before and after the Pacific War, hardships continued in both painting and home, and in 1941 his mother collapsed due to cerebral hemorrhage and entered a medical treatment life (died in November 1945), and his father who failed in business died suddenly in 1942. I did.

In April 1945, he evacuated to Takayama (Gifu Prefecture) with his mother and wife, but in July he entered the company after receiving a convocation letter. He came to an end while he was trained in Kumamoto prefecture to attack against a car with a bomb. After the convocation was lifted, Kotora, his mother, and his wife settled down in Ochiai Village, Nakakoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture (currently Minami Alps City).

When my mother died in November 1945, I moved to Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, where Ichikawa received support such as housing from Katsugoro Nakamura, a businessman in the same area known as a horse owner. His younger brother, who was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis, died shortly after being rejected for the 1946 Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. Kaii Higashiyama recalled his circumstances at that time as “deep bottom”, but when he thought “I couldn’t fall anymore”, he felt calm and decided to “crawl up little by little”.

At the 3rd Japan Fine Arts Exhibition in 1947, “Afterglow” depicting the view from Mt. Kanou (Kimitsu City, Chiba Prefecture) was selected and purchased by the Government of Japan. I made up my mind and pursued my own expression. “Michi”, released in 1950, is a work that depicts only the road that extends straight forward, and shows a new innovation in the screen composition that is extremely simplified. Before the production, he revisited Tanesashi and stayed at Taihei Bokujo, which Nakamura probably introduced, to make a sketch.

In 1953, he built his home designed by Junzo Yoshimura, a university alumnus, and continued his creative activities there for over 50 years.

He has also interviewed Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, China and abroad, and his works, which have been energetically released one after another, have a clear yet deep spirituality and have gained widespread support. In the same year, he became a judge for Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, and has served since then. In 1956, he was in charge of the Japan Art Academy Prize for “Koukai”, the Tomiya Imperial Residence (“Sun Moon Four Seasons”) in 1960, and the barrier painting of the Imperial Palace, which was completed in 1968. In 1961, he was the Fukiage Omiya palace painting “Manryokushin”. In 1962, “Midorioka” was held at the Japanese Cultural Center in Rome, Italy. In 1965, a member of the Japan Art Academy, “White Night Light” at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. In 1968, he was a member of the Cultural Properties Protection Council, a mural painting of the Imperial Palace New Palace “The Tide of the Dawn”. 1969, Mainichi Art Award, Order of Culture, Person of Cultural Merit. 1970, Tokyo National Museum Councilor. In 1973, he was a member of the Natural Environment Conservation Council. In 1974, he became chairman of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition and resigned in 1975. In the 1970s, the barrier painting “Huangshan Xiaoyun” at Toshodaiji Temple in Nara, which took about 10 years, became his masterpiece.

He vividly portrayed the ever-changing appearance of the mountain by using different shades of ink. Huangshan described Huangshan as a “fulfilling world of nothingness.” He felt the energy to create everything in the chaotic transition of nature. By working on this plan, his name and popularity in Japan became even higher, and he became known as a national Japanese painter. He is not only an art book but also a writer, and he has written many books such as art books, and he has a close relationship with Yasunari Kawabata.

He was the first to introduce Caspar David Friedrich, a German Romantic painter he learned while studying in Germany, to Japan. He is also known for proposing the light gray color of Setoo Bridge.

In 1975, he exhibited the Toshodaiji Barrier Painting Exhibition at the Yoshii Gallery in Paris, France, and the same exhibition at the Japanese Culture Institute in Cologne, Germany. In 1976, the Kyoto Raku Shiki Study Exhibition at the Yoshii Gallery in Paris. In 1977, he exhibited a barrier painting at the Toshodaiji Temple exhibition in Paris. In 1978, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition in Beijing and Shenyang, People’s Republic of China, and “Chairs in Concorde Square” original painting exhibition in Paris. In 1979, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition in Berlin and Leipzig, Germany. In 1980, produced the second Toshodaiji barrier painting. In 1981, he produced and dedicated the painting “Ruikou” by Toshodaiji Jianzhen. Kaii Higashiyama exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. In 1982, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition at the National Museum of Art, Osaka. In 1983, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition in Munich, Dusseldorf, Bremen, Germany. In 1984, he was elected a member of the Pour le Mérite Academy of Arts and Sciences, the highest honor in West Germany, and was awarded the membership badge in Bonn in the presence of the President. In 1986, he visited China as the delegation leader of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association. In 1988, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition at Kyoto City Museum of Art, Nagoya City Museum of Art, and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art. In 1990, at the Nihonbashi Takashimaya in Tokyo, the Berlin-Hamburg Vienna Tour Exhibition Commemorating the Return to Japan, Kaii Higashiyama Exhibition. In 1995, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition to commemorate the US life in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nagano. In 1996, presented a catalog of Kaii Higashiyama art books to 106 high schools in Nagano prefecture. In 1997, in Kobe and Fukuoka, celebrating Yoneju-Kaii Higashiyama “My Forest” exhibition.

In 1999, he died at the age of 90 due to senility. During his lifetime, he donated many of his masterpieces, including works exhibited at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, to the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Nagano Prefecture. Other works centered on his prints are also in the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe, where he spent his childhood, and the “Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaiso Setouchi Museum” in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, where his grandfather was born. Has been donated. In Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, where he lived from immediately after his demobilization after the war until his death, the “Ichikawa City Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Hall” was opened next to his home. Also, during the camping trip during the art school days, the “Higashiyama Kisoshin no Tabikan”, which houses about 500 prints donated later in gratitude for receiving warm hospitality during the intense evening rain. Is located in Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture (formerly Yamaguchi Village, Kiso District, Nagano Prefecture).

2000, Kaii Higashiyama exhibition commemorating the return to Paris exhibition in Fukuoka, Tokyo and Nagoya. Higashiyama Kaiikan 10th Anniversary Exhibition at Shinano Museum of Art The world of Higashiyama Kaii. In 2004, Kaii Higashiyama Exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art. In 2005, an exhibition commemorating the opening of the Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaiso Setouchi Museum in Shamijima, Sakaide City. A special exhibition commemorating the opening of the Kaii Higashiyama Memorial Hall in Ichikawa City. In 2008, Kaii Higashiyama’s 100th birthday exhibition in Nagano, Tokyo. In 2018, the 110th anniversary of his birth, Kaii Higashiyama Exhibition was held in Tokyo and Kyoto.

I couldn’t take a picture, but N, who likes blue among the colors, was fascinated by the world of Kaii Higashiyama at once.

“Higashiyama Kaisoshin no Tabikan” Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture is also very worrisome.

I may introduce it in this blog someday.

See you soon