Featured Events in Osaka Prefecture in June 2025 (June Updated)

Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889) was an artist active from the Edo period to the first half of the Meiji period. With solid painting skills and classical studies, he painted a variety of subjects such as gods, Buddhas, beautiful women, customs, birds and animals in a style that was humorous, satirical and seductive, regardless of the format, such as hand-painted paintings, woodblock prints and printed books, and his versatility earned him praise for being able to "paint anything." In recent years, it has been reaffirmed that at the root of such artistic achievement lies the training and pride of the Kano school. Kyosai learned painting from ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) at the age of seven, entered the Kano school at the age of ten, and completed his training at the early age of 19. His involvement in both ukiyo-e and the Kano school makes his artistic career even more colorful. This exhibition, the first Kawanabe Kyosai exhibition in Osaka, will focus on works from the collection of the Kawanabe Kyosai Memorial Museum of Art, a public interest incorporated foundation founded and directed by Kyosai's great-grandson Kawanabe Kusumi, and will also touch upon the "Caricature Scroll" formerly owned by Kyosai, as well as Kano school and Chinese paintings from the Kosetsu Museum of Art's collection, creating an opportunity to celebrate him as a traditional painter. The more thoroughly one attempts to view his artistic career in a mainstream manner, the more things will slip through the cracks. It may be that this is where the essence of Kyosai's paintings can be found.