Past Special Exhibition 2016

Polychrome Painted Porcelains by Three Japanese Living National Treasures ― Imaizumi Imaemon XIII ・ Imaizumi Imaemon XIV ・ Fujimoto Yoshimichi ―
Settai Komura & The Shiseido Design Department ― 100 Years in Komura Settai's Typographical Playground ―

July 12 (Tue) to September 25 (Sun), 2016

The Shiseido Art House was pleased to present an exhibition of the polychrome overglaze painted porcelains (iroe jiki) of three of Japan’s most renowned ceramicists―Imaizumi Imaemon XIII (1926–2001), Imaizumi Imaemon XIV (1962– ), and Fujimoto Yoshimichi (1919–92). All three of these master craftsmen have been recognized as “Living National Treasures” by the Japanese government.

Komura Settai (1887 – 1940) was an artist of broad creativity, his talents extending beyond his specialty of Japanese-style painting to literary illustration, book design, and even theatrical stage settings. He was also one of several designers instrumental in helping to build the early Shiseido Design Department, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Japanese Painting — Adorning the Four Seasons

April 12 (Tue) to July 3 (Sun), 2016

“Japanese Painting — Adorning the Four Seasons,” was mainly landscape and “flower-and-bird” masterpieces drawn from the museum's collection.

Among the works on display will be about twenty-five by influential Showa-era Japanese-style painters, including Shōkō Uemura, Tatsuo Takayama, Taikan Yokoyama and Seison Maeda, many of whom participated in the Tsubakikai exhibition collaborative hosted over the course of nearly seventy years by the Shiseido Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo.

With seasonal subjects ranging from barren winter tree lines to the flowers of spring, and from charming birds and plump summer fruits to the resplendent reds and golds of autumn, such pictures that draw upon Japan's rich seasonality are sure to resonate with all who see them.