Report on "Takehisa Yumeji: A Creative Expressionist of His Era" (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo): Introducing the Appeal of an Artist Who Transcended the Boundaries of Art as a Painter, Poet, Journalist, Designer, and More
The largest-ever exhibition of Takehisa Yumeji is on view at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo until January 11, 2027.Summary
The exhibition "Takehisa Yumeji: A Creative Expressionist of His Era" is being held at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo until January 11, 2027. Takehisa Yumeji (1884–1934) is known as a symbol of Taisho Roman through his "Yumeji-style" female figures and retro-modern designs, while also being a multifaceted expressionist active as a poet, journalist, designer, and illustrator. Because he belonged to no art organization and rarely submitted to open exhibitions, the museum owns none of his works. This largest-ever exhibition brings together about 500 items from the Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum, the Yumeji Art Museum, the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan, the Takehisa Yumeji Museum, and the Chiyoda Ward (Ryuseikaku Takehisa Yumeji Collection), showing 485 works across the first and second periods, or over 500 including multiple-piece sets. It is organized into five chapters; Chapter 1, "The Beginning of the Yumeji Style," covers how Yumeji, self-taught without formal art education, established the "Yumeji-style woman" after advice from Okada Saburosuke. It also addresses his early involvement in socialist movements, the picture-postcard boom around the Russo-Japanese War, his 55 self-authored publications, and works such as the picture-text collection Yoran and the best-selling Yumeji Art Collection: Spring Volume. A photo spot featuring his representative work "Kurofuneya" is set up at the exhibition entrance.
(Source：Tokyo Art Beat)