Takeuchi Seiho: A Destructive and Creative Force

Takeuchi Seiho was the most influential painter in modern Japanese painting. During the Meiji period, Seiho aimed for the innovation in the world of painting and traveled to the West, seeking for new expressions of Japanese painting which transcends old traditions. In the Taisho and Showa periods, when his skills have reached maturity, Seiho was known to train many of his pupils while playing an active part in the frontlines of art as an influential figure. While emphasizing on the importance of “sketching,” Seiho produced vivid works by his outstanding brushworks and created the foundation of modern Japanese painting in Kyoto by his overwhelming force of leadership. Nowadays, Seiho is widely known as a masterly painter, however, in his road to success, vast amounts of energy were needed in order to create a new horizon by destroying old norms.

In this exhibition, starting with our collection of Posing for the First Time, Seiho’s representative works from his early years to his late stages will be recollected. To shed light into the challenges Seiho had faced, his sketches, preparatory drawings, reproductions of old paintings and various references will be on display. This large-scale, retrospective exhibition will fully look back at roughly 130 works of Seiho and his strenuous efforts.