Exhibitions & Events
The Road to Japanese Modern Western-style Painting
Focusing on the Yamaoka Collection
main building
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - Sunday, June 21, 2026
The Yamaoka Collection, owned by KASAMA Nichido Art Museum, is a treasure trove of early Western-style paintings collected by Magokichi Yamaoka, the founder of Yanmar Diesel. This exhibition will focus on the Yamaoka Collection, bringing together approximately 150 works by masters who laid the foundation of Japanese Western-style painting, including Takahashi Yuichi, the father of Japanese Western-style painting, Kuroda Seiki, Fujishima Takeji, and Aoki Shigeru, to look back on the formative period of modern Japanese Western-style painting from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era.
Chapter 1: Western-style Painting at the End of the Edo Period: Toward Realistic Depiction
Major exhibiting artists: Maruyama Okyo, Shiba Ehan, Takahashi Yuichi, Charles Wagman, Hashimoto Masakuni
From left: Shiba Jianghan, Landscape, color on silk
Takahashi Yuichi, Self-Portrait with Topknot (oil on canvas)
Chapter 2: Foreign Students and the Industrial Arts School in the Early Meiji Period
Main Exhibiting Artists: Kenko Hyakutake, Hosui Yamamoto, Yoshimatsu Goseida, Tadashi Asai, Rin Yamashita, Shotaro Koyama, Georges Vigneault
From left: Kenko Hyakutake, Bulgarian Woman, 1882, oil on canvas
Rin Yamashita, Portrait of James the Apostle, oil on canvas
Georges Bigot, Hail Mary, oil on canvas
Chapter 3: Meiji Gaiko School and Romanticism
Major Exhibiting Artists: Furu Nakamura, Keiichiro Kume, Seiki Kuroda, Takeji Fujishima, Saburo Okada, Eisaku Wada
From left: Seiki Kuroda, Portrait of Kuroda Seikane, 1907, oil on canvas
Shigeru Aoki, Two Girls, 1909, oil on canvas
Takeji Fujishima, Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1927, oil, pencil and carton
Special "Japanese" Modern Western-style painters going beyond Western-style painting
Special exhibit of works by Kishida Ryusei, Saeki Yuzo, and others
From left: Kishida Ryusei, "Reiko in the Cold Mountain Wind," 1922-23, ink and light color on paper
Yuzo Saeki, A Street Corner in Paris, 1927, oil on canvas
Tetsugoro Mantegoro, Self-Portrait in Red Cloak, 1912, oil on canvas
- session (of a legislature)
- Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - Sunday, June 21, 2026
- venue
- Venue: Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Main Building 1F, Special Exhibition Room
- Opening Information
- Hours: 9:30-17:30 (admission until 17:00)
Closed Mondays (except Monday, May 4, when the museum will be open, and Thursday, May 7, when it will be closed) - Fee for viewing
- Adults 1500 (1200) yen, High school and college students 1100 (800) yen, Elementary and junior high school students 900 (600) yen
Prices in parentheses are for advance purchase and for groups of 20 or more. Free admission for those with a physical disability certificate and one accompanying person (physical disability certificate is limited to those with grades 1-4). (For the physical disability certificate, the fee will be reduced by 20% for residents of Kitakyushu City aged 65 and over (a certificate issued by a public institution must be presented).
*Advance tickets are available at Online Ticket (from the museum website), Lawson Ticket (Lawson, Ministop), Ticket Pia (Seven-Eleven), Seven Ticket (Seven-Eleven), e+ e Plus (Family Mart), Kokura Izutsuya and major Kitakyushu Monorail stations.
*Online tickets, Lawson Ticket, Ticket Pia, Seven Ticket, and e+ e-plus will be sold at the same-day price during the exhibition. - Sponsor, Support, etc.
- Organized by Executive Committee of Exhibition of Japanese Modern Western Paintings (Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, The Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Newspapers, The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Supported by Kyushu Railway Company, West Japan Railway Company, Kitakyushu Monorail, Chikuho Electric Railway Co.
Planning Nichido Art Foundation, Kasama Nichido Art Museum - Related Events
Challenge to make a Salmon Figure! Making fish ornaments
Date: Sunday, May 10, 14:00-15:00
Venue: Education Room A
Free of charge, no advance registration required. Up to 50 people on a first-come, first-served basis.
Museum Concert
The Koto, a Japanese stringed instrument, is used in modern Western-style paintings.
Performed by: NPO Wara Keimei
Date: Sunday, May 24, 14:00- (about 30 minutes)
Venue: Entrance Hall
Free of charge, no advance registration required.
Museum Partners Project
Saturday, June 6 is "Kids' Day!
You can chat in the exhibition room on this day.
Let's enjoy art together.
Gallery talk by curators
Date and time: May 17 (Sun.) and June 7 (Sun.), both from 14:00 (about 30 minutes)
Venue：In the exhibition hall
No advance registration required. However, admission fee to this exhibition is required.