Report on the Opening of "Kanokogi Mokurō from His 151st Birthday - The Unyielding Path of Oil Painting" (Sen-oku Hakuko Kan, Tokyo). A major retrospective of the "unyielding" painter who pursued realism, held for the first time in a quarter century.
A major retrospective exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of realist oil painter Kanokogi Mokurō has opened at the Sen-oku Hakuko Kan in Tokyo.Summary
The Sen-oku Hakuko Kan in Tokyo has opened a major retrospective exhibition, "Kanokogi Mokurō from His 151st Birthday - The Unyielding Path of Oil Painting," commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Kanokogi Mokurō (1874–1941), a painter who rigorously pursued realistic expression in modern Japanese Western-style painting. This is the first large-scale retrospective in Tokyo in about a quarter of a century. Kanokogi studied under Jean-Paul Laurens in Paris and later contributed significantly to Japanese modern Western painting through education after returning to Japan. The exhibition comprehensively covers his artistic career, displaying about 130 works ranging from early sketches to his later Symbolist explorations, including works shown at major exhibitions and newly confirmed pieces. The curator, Kōichirō Noji, stated that the exhibition attempts to re-examine Kanokogi's work from a perspective different from the art history centered on Seiki Kuroda, noting that Kanokogi's dedication to realism shines freshly in the current art climate where realism is being re-evaluated.
(Source：美術手帖)