Kobayashi Kiyochika Exhibition

Japanese

Kobayashi Kiyochika Exhibition The Ukiyoe Artist of the Meiji Period

Kobayashi Kiyochika(1847-1915) has become one ofthe most remarkable woodblock artists in the Meiji Period as he released "The Tokyo Land-scape",the masterpiece that he called elight picturefwoodblock print on paper. Kobayashi was born to a family that served as a vassal of the Edo Shogunate. The family was involved in the disturbance of the Meiji Restoration during the end of the Edo Period. Kobayashi's family moved to Shizuoka in 1868, thefirst year of the Meiji Period, accompanying the Tokugawa Family. Later, Kobayashi lived in Shimizu, Shizuoka and Washizu City(Current Kosai City). He spent several years of his youthin Shizuoka Prefecture. Later, Kobayashi moved back to Tokyo. The city,then, was in a ferment over the civilization and enlightenment. It has been told that Kobayashi studied Western painting under Wirgman during this period. In his masterpiece, "The Tokyo Landscape", Kobayashi incorporated entirly new sense into Ukiyoe art by using unique technique of light and shadow that he produced under influence of western paintings and traditional Ukiyoe art at its base. In the beginning of the Meiji, Ukiyoe art with vivid colour was popular. Among those Ukiyoe paintings in those days, Kobayashi's works were conspicuous figure with quiet colors. His style became popular as it wasfilled with nostalgia for the Edo atmosphere that was beginning to fade. His work played a bigrole beyond the frame of 'art' in the period of Edo to modern days as he covered variety of themes including 'flower', 'bird', 'still-life', historical paintings,satirical paintings, or even war paintings. At our exhibition, we introduce variety of art works of Kobayashi who has been noticed as the last Ukiyoe artist and the master of modern woodblock artist. The display includes his paintings and many other representative works.

List of Works at Exhibition