sign in sign up
<<
Home , Antonio Fontanesi, Barbizon school, Henry Osborne Havemeyer, Hiroshima Museum of Art, Sergei Shchukin, Victor Chocquet

’S LOVE FOR

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 1 07.09.15 08:55 O Moon! –if we Should put a handle to you, What a fan you’d be!

Yamazaki Sōkan

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 2 07.09.15 08:55 JAPAN’S LOVE FOR IMPRESSIONISM

From Monet to Renoir

Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn 8 October 2015 – 21 February 2016

PRESTEL Munich · · New York

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 3 07.09.15 08:55 5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 4 07.09.15 08:55 5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 5 07.09.15 08:55 page 2 Édouard Manet Chrysanthemums, 1881 (cat. no. 1)

page 4 Shintaro Yamashita Woman Reading, 1908 (cat. no. 2)

page 5 Édouard Manet The Walk, ca. 1880 (cat. no. 3)

REIN WOLFS BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN 9 Foreword 92 … first a colour and a light … Julius Meier-Graefe, Richard Muther Contents and the Reception of Impressionism SHŪJI TAKASHINA in and Japan 11 Words of Greeting

BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN 100 Manet and Impressionism

ATSUSHI MIURA Exhibits 59 – 72 12 Japan and the Impressionists: The Collections of French MARIANNE MATHIEU and the Interrelation 120 Tadamasa Hayashi, between French and Japanese Art Kōjirō Matsukata and the Western Collectors and Collections BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN

28 Japan Encounters Europe BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN A historic sketch 128 Renoir, Cézanne and Rodin Exhibits 73 – 91 BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN

34 Tadamasa Hayashi MASATO SATSUMA 150 The Reception of Western Oil BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN in Modern Japan: The Example 38 The First Japanese Artists in of the School of Fine Arts

BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN 40 and His Collection 158 Post-Impressionism and the Nabis of Japanese Woodcuts Exhibits 92 – 112 Exhibits 12 – 41

BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN BEATE MARKS-HANSSEN 184 Japanese Artists 74 The School and Courbet of the ‘Western Style’ Exhibits 43 – 55 Exhibits 113 – 131

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 6 07.09.15 08:55 206 The Collections in Japan YOSHIYUKI FURUTANI APPENDIX 224 Museum of Art 207 Map (A Public Interest 244 Catalogue of Exhibited Works Incorporated Foundation) 248 Short Biographies of the Artists HIROSHI KUMAZAWA Featured in the Catalogue 208 Private and Corporate Collections AKIRA GOKITA 252 Museums and Collections and Public Museums: 226 The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum with Western and Modern Impressionist Collections in Japan and its Impressionist Collection Japanese Art in Japan Following the Second World War 253 Bibliography YŌKO IWASAKI 254 Index of Names HIDEYUKI YANAGISAWA 230 The Pola Museum of Art 216 The Ōhara Museum of Art and the Collector Tsuneshi Suzuki

AKIKO MABUCHI NANAKO SATO 218 The Kōjirō Matsukata Collection 232 The Yoshino Gypsum Collection – and the National Museum A Century of Dreams of Western Art in Tokyo

TSUYOSHI KAIZUKA 222 Shōjirō Ishibashi and the DETMAR WESTHOFF Bridgestone Museum of Art 234 Why the Japanese Love Impressionism

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 7 07.09.15 08:55 8

We should like to thank all lenders Shimoda, Uehara Museum of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefectural Giverny, Fondation Claude Monet – Museum of Art Acknow- Giverny, Académie des Beaux-Arts Tokyo, Bridgestone Museum of Art Hachiōji, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tokyo, Kume Museum of Art Hakone, Pola Museum of Art Tokyo, Marubeni Corporation ledgements Hatsukaichi, Woodone Museum of Art Tokyo, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Hiroshima, Hiroshima Museum of Art Tokyo, The National Kasama, Kasama Nichido Museum of Art Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu Municipal Tokyo, Tokyo University of Art, Museum of Art The University Art Museum Komaki, Menard Art Museum Tokyo, Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation Kurashiki, Ōhara Museum of Art Tokyo, Yoshino Gypsum Co., Ltd. Kyoto, The National Museum of Toyama, Hokugin Galerie Millet Modern Art, Kyoto Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation Matsue, Shimane Art Museum Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefectural Matsuyama, The Museum of Art, Ehime Museum of Fine Arts Mito, The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki Yamagata, Yamagata Museum of Art Osaka, The National Museum of Art, Osaka , Yokohama Museum of Art Paris, Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie Saitama, The Museum of Modern Art, and all private lenders who Saitama wish to remain anonymous.

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 8 07.09.15 08:55 9

The “dawn of the modern age” is a familiar which concentrated above all on French phrase that applies in many respects to the Impressionism. The financial potential period of the waning nineteenth century. provided the preconditions, but we must Foreword It was the time when Paris was the centre also focus on the great enthusiasm un- of the art world and French Impression- leashed in Japan by Impressionism as the ists rebelled against the conventions of collectors’ prime incentive. That inter- academic Salon painting. In this est in and identification with the art were moment is often referred to as the ‘Birth of of the greatest significance here can be ’, but at the very least it is seen attested primarily by the first generation as the origin of a development in which art of Japanese art collectors, who cultivated increasingly liberated itself from academic close contacts – at times even close friend- rules and ultimately resulted in the plural- ships – with the Impressionist artists. ism that characterises the fine arts today. The cultural and artistic dialogue But Impressionism can also be considered bore fruits in both directions, towards the with regard to the ways in which art is a East as well as the West. While in Europe reflection of its times. To the extent that Japonisme broke fresh ground and art- every cultural development flourishes in ists like Monet and van Gogh became pas- the fertile soil of its superordinate and sionate collectors of Japanese woodcuts, coordinate circumstances, it can also be Japan experienced a growing interest in seen as a mirror of the social, political and Western art, but especially an enthusi- economic conditions in which it originated. asm for French Impressionism. This had In Japan’s Love for Impressionism the an effect, firstly, on the production of art, Bundeskunsthalle is presenting an exhibi- as demonstrated in the works of the Japa- tion with masterpieces of French Impres- nese artists who began painting in a West- sionism from Japanese collections. It may ern style at the beginning of the twentieth come as a surprise that the concentration century; many of these works can be seen on these works does not entail any kind of in our exhibition. And secondly, significant qualitative or even quantitative limits for and extensive collections of Western art of an exhibition. The conclusion is evidence outstanding quality were built up in Japan. of a consequential cultural-historical devel- We are now able to present these works in opment. The intense cultural exchange be- the Bundeskunsthalle, hanging side by side tween Japan and the West from the middle for the first time in Europe. of the nineteenth century was principally a result of the economic opening of the We thank the curatorial team, and first Pacific island kingdom towards the West. and foremost Atsushi Miura; together with But it would not be sufficient to view the Beate Marks-Hanßen and Detmar West- consequences of the resulting economic hoff, and supported by Hiroshi Kumazawa growth in Japan as the sole cause of the and Masato Satsuma, he developed the con- origins of these high-quality collections, cept for this exhibition. We are grateful to

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 9 07.09.15 08:55 10

Detmar Westhoff for proposing the idea for and his colleagues at the German embassy the exhibition. I should also like to thank in Tokyo, who showed great commit- my predecessor Robert Fleck for taking up ment in the support and advice they gave the idea as well as conducting the first dis- our project. cussions with lenders and drawing up the And finally, I would like to express our concept for the exhibition with the support special gratitude to our lenders who have of Detmar Westhoff. Without the excellent opened up their magnificent collections contacts of Detmar Westhoff and Atsushi to us and without whose generosity we Miura to the museums and collections could never have realised such an ambi- in Japan the exhibition would not have tious project. taken place. We should like to thank Atsushi Miura and Hiroshi Kumazawa for Rein Wolfs their outstanding expertise in selecting Director of the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and Exhibition the works; they also developed the spatial Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany) concept of the exhibition together with Beate Marks-Hanßen, whom we also thank for the scholarly supervision of the cata- logue. We are grateful, too, to the authors of the catalogue, who provide in their texts a well-founded history of the collections in Japan. And I would like to thank my colleague Bernhard Spies, the business manager of the Bundeskunsthalle, for the preparation of the exhibition and his willingness to give advice and support to the project over the past four years. The management of the exhibition lay in the competent hands of Susanne Annen; I would like to thank her for her commitment and for its successful realisation, and also the architect Meyer Voggenreiter for the harmonious devel- opment of the colour scheme and graphic concept of the exhibition. We are grateful to Shūji Takashina for supporting the project in his capacity as director of the Western Art Foundation. And our heartfelt thanks go to the German ambassador Dr. Hans Carl von Werthern

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 10 07.09.15 08:55 11

The June, 1906 issue of the regard for the organisers and everyone magazine Gazette des Beaux-Arts printed participating in both Germany and Japan an interview with the painter of the Water who have made this exhibition possible. Words of Lilies, Claude Monet, in which he expressly emphasised his strong affinity to the “Japa- Shūji Takashina nese of the old days”: “Their rarefied taste Director of the Western Art Foundation, Tokyo Greeting has always appealed to me.” Not only Monet, but other French artists, too, like Manet, Pissarro, van Gogh, Gauguin and Bonnard were fascinated by Ukiyoe woodcuts. They provided the painters with ideas for novel forms of creative expression. At the same time, interest in the Bar- bizon School and Impressionist and Post- Impressionist painting grew rapidly in Japan through the art-historical writings of Julius Meier-Graefe and the reports of artists and art enthusiasts who travelled to . All of this played a large role in introducing into Japan and led to many important modern works finding their way there. High-quality collections of French painting have now found a home in many locations in Japan as a result. For the enthusiast of French painting it is exceedingly gratifying that these images from collections heretofore scarcely known to the Western world, to- gether with works by the Japanese painters they influenced, will now be exhibited for the first time in Germany in this way. This exhibition documents the history of the encounter between East and West, which stretches back over more than 150 years, from the time of Japan’s opening to the Western world in the middle of the nine- teenth century, with the help of the abun- dant fruits of this encounter. For this reason I would like to express my highest

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 11 07.09.15 08:55 12

Atsushi Miura How likely is it that people in Germany or Europe realise just how many excellent paintings of French modernism have found Japan and a home in the Far Eastern island kingdom of Japan? It can be safely assumed that this fact is largely unknown to the general pub- the Impressionists lic, apart from art historians and museum personnel. This is not actually surprising; since countless masterpieces of Impres- sionism and Post-Impressionism can be seen in the great museums of Europe and the – above all in the Museé d’Orsay in Paris, in the Metropolitan The Collections of French Painting Museum of Art in New York or in the Na- tional Gallery of Art in Washington – no and the Interrelation between French one is likely to realise that equally compre- hensive and excellent collections with art- and Japanese Art works from this period also exist outside the Occident. For this exhibition in Bonn, Japan’s Love for Impressionism – from Monet to Renoir, more than 100 first-rate works of art from the holdings of important Japanese museums and collections have been select- ed, and can now be seen in Europe for the very first time. With these Japanese loans the exhibition seeks to present the magnifi- cent achievements of French painting in the second half of the nineteenth century. It extends from the Barbizon School via the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists to the Nabis and is represented by works by Corot, Millet, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh and Bonnard. But this is not its only objective. The exhibition also seeks to show the composition of the Japanese collections of Impressionist art and which historical contexts played a part in this. During the

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 12 07.09.15 08:55 13

period from the last years of the nineteenth I. Collections of Modern French Painting a great variety of keepsakes. In these ways century to the Second World War, Japan in Japan and in the West as well, numerous pieces such as ceramics, experienced an enormous economic boom. porcelain and Ukiyoe woodcuts ended up The important collections formed at this The history of Western painting in Japan in the West. France also imported Japa- time by successful entrepreneurs such as can be traced back to the sixteenth cen- nese decorative arts in great quantities, es- Kōjirō Matsukata and Magosaburō Ōhara tury, when Portuguese Jesuits brought pecially as Japonisme became fashionable, rivalled those of the European art collec- religious images with them in the course particularly in Paris. tors in every respect. Many collections also of their missionary activities. Later, in the This begs the question of how West- originated during the economic boom of eighteenth century, when the Shogunate of ern oil painting arrived in Japan. There the post-war period, as if motivated by a de- the Edo Period maintained trade relations were works by foreign artists who had sire for the art sector to keep pace with the only with Holland, engravings entered the lived in Japan at the beginning of the rapid industrial development. A further as- country. But these were isolated cases. The Period, for example the British painter, pect of this exhibition will thus be to trace introduction of Western painting in the illustrator and caricaturist Charles Wirg- these changes. true sense only came later, in the last phase man, who lived in Japan as a correspond- Another important theme in this con- of the Edo Period. After Japan’s opening to ent for the Illustrated London News, or text is the inter-relation between Japanese the Western Great Powers in 1858 (see also Antonio Fontanesi, who taught oil painting art and French painting. From the time Marks-Hanßen, here pp. 28 ff.), so-called at the newly founded Kōbu Bijutsu Gakkō of Japan’s opening in the mid-nineteenth friendship and trade treaties were signed art school from 1876 to 1883. In addition century, French painters had been fas- with America, England, France, Russia to these paintings there were also works cinated by Ukiyoe woodcuts, which had and the Netherlands. In the wake of its created in the West that had been brought a strong influence on their work and pro- restoration in 1868, the Meiji government back home by Japanese (artists and non- moted so-called Japonisme. Conversely, energetically promoted the country’s mod- artists) who had spent time studying in shortly after the advent of Japonisme in ernisation and the introduction of Western Europe or America. According to the art Europe, Western painting made its way cultural achievements. During this period historian Katsumi Miyazaki, between into Japan. In particular the Japanese a brisk trade between Western countries 1889 and 1899 no fewer than 88 Western painters around Seiki Kuroda, who lived in and Japan developed in artworks and deco- oil paintings and watercolours could be France around the end of the nineteenth rative arts objects as well. seen as reference objects at the exhibitions and beginning of the twentieth centuries, Until around the end of the nine- of the Meiji Bijutsu-kai (Meiji Fine Arts brought academic plein-air painting and teenth century, however, Western painting Society)2 in Tokyo.1 They were owned by al- Impressionism to Japan. In this way the relatively seldom found its way to Japan, most 40 persons, among them politicians, exhibited works vividly convey the recipro- whereas, in contrast, Japanese artworks officials, industrialists and artists. And yet cal inspiration between Japan and France. were exported to the West in large quan- all in all their number was quite low and it And, ultimately, against this background, it tities. They arrived there in the luggage of was probably something of an exception may also be possible to find an explanation diplomats, travellers and business people that these works reached Japan at all. Un- for the phenomenon of Japan’s great love or were exhibited in Europe at trade fairs, til the 1890s there were, strictly speaking, of Impressionist painting. beginning during the Paris world’s fair of neither collectors nor collections of West- 1867. Many of the technology experts who ern painting in Japan. sought to market Western expertise in Japan returned to their home country with

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 13 14.09.15 12:43 14

1 Claude Monet Parc Monceau, 1876, Sen-Oku Hakkokan, Tokyo

The Collection of Tadamasa Hayashi which included writers, painters, critics, sionists’ Japonisme and that, conversely, industrialists and various collectors. through his dealings with them, his interest Although there was no collector of West- When Japan took part in the Paris in modern French painting, and Impres- ern painting in Japan in the 1890s, there world’s fair in 1900, Hayashi was named sionism in particular, grew steadily. was nonetheless a Japanese precursor, commissary general by the Japanese gov- Hayashi’s own collecting activities, Tadamasa Hayashi (1853 – 1906), who lived ernment. This represented an extraordi- which began in the 1880s, continued to in Paris and traded in Japanese art as a gal- nary career leap for a private citizen. His intensify in the following decade. Accord- lerist (see also Mathieu and Marks-Hanßen, task was to organise the show, which would ing to auction lists, by the end of his life here pp. 120 ff. and 34 ff.). In 1890 he opened exhibit not only Ukiyoe woodcuts, but also Hayashi had acquired around 600 Western his own gallery in the French capital under an extensive spectrum of Japanese art. artworks: paintings, but above all prints the name Hayashi Shōkai, where he sold To accompany the show he published the and sketches, a third of them works by Paul porcelain, ceramics and Ukiyoe woodcuts. book Histoire de l’Art du Japon (cat. no. 12). Renouard (1845 – 1924). While Hayashi’s At the time Japonisme, which had been en Hayashi’s circle of friends and ac- collection also contained paintings by vogue among Western Europeans – and the quaintances also included Impression- Corot, the Barbizon School and Jean- French in particular – from the time of the ist painters. Raymond Koechlin reported Léon Gérôme (1824 – 1904), an academic Paris world’s fair of 1867, was experiencing that Hayashi exchanged works by Monet, painter of historic, mythological and Ori- its greatest popularity. As a dealer and bro- Degas and Pissarro for Japanese art from ental themes, it was the Impressionists that ker of Japanese art, Hayashi was in contact his collection.3 It can thus be assumed that formed its core. A considerable number of with the entire Japanophile cultural scene, he played an important role in the Impres- works by painters working in the Impres-

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 14 15.09.15 11:21 Japan and the Impressionists 15

sionist style, among them Manet, Monet, Impressionist Collections in Looking further around the world we find Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Renoir, Berthe Mor- Western Europe and North America that financiers and industrialists from isot, Guillaumin, and others other countries were also interested in mod- were to be found in his possession. He also From a Japanese perspective, Tadamasa ern French painting at the time (see also owned a number of masterpieces by the Hayashi’s collection of Impressionist art Mathieu, here pp. 120 ff.), so that around academic plein-air painter Raphaël Collin4, amassed in the 1890s was an extraordinary the turn of the century these paintings be- with whom he was befriended, and who, pioneering achievement. But its impor- came coveted collectors’ items. In Germany in turn, was an aficionado of Japanese art. tance is fairly minor in comparison with the Impressionism gained acceptance earlier. Although Hayashi’s collection of Western great collections of modern French art that In Berlin the Russian-born lawyer Carl artworks could be seen in 1890 and 1893 at were established throughout the world. Bernstein and the painter the Meiji Bijutsu-kai exhibitions in Japan, The gallerist Paul Durand-Ruel had collected Impressionist art in the 1880s it never became truly known there despite been acquiring works by Manet and other and 1890s. From 1896 onwards the direc- its extraordinary quality. Impressionist painters from the 1870s, tor of the Berlin Nationalgalerie, Hugo von Hayashi also acted as an intermedi- opening up a new sector in the art market Tschudi, steadily acquired Impressionist ary in the sale of Impressionist paintings. by doing so.7 At the same time, other early works, among them Manet’s In the Conser­ It is assumed that the two Monet works – aficionados of Impressionist art were as- vatory. And not to be forgotten is the bank- The Road near Ferme Saint-Siméon of 1864 sembling important collections in the er’s son Karl-Ernst Osthaus, who opened and Parc Monceau of 1876 (fig. 1) – that 1870s and 1880s, for example the singer the Folkwang Museum in Hagen (today Kichizaemon Sumitomo took to Japan Jean-Baptiste Faure, who possessed a large in Essen) in 1902, creating an important in 1897 were acquired through Hayashi’s Manet collection, the department store collection of modern French painting also intervention in Paris. They are exhibited owner Ernest Hoschedé, the Romanian outside Berlin.10 today in the Tokyo branch of the Sen-Oku doctor Georges de Bellio and the Paris cus- In Russia too, two entrepreneurs be- Hakko Kan Museum. toms official .8 gan collecting contemporary French art at From the middle of the 1890s Hayashi In 1894, during the period of Hayashi’s the end of the 1890s. Sergei Shchukin, who cherished the dream of building the first most intense collecting activities, had earned a fortune in the textiles trade, museum for Western art in Japan, with his died. A boat builder owned 268 works, among them works by collection as its basis. But in 1906, a year and patron with a large collection of Im- Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse and after his return to Japan, he succumbed pressionist art, he was also a painter him- Picasso, followed by Ivan Morozov, who to a serious illness. A portion of his collec- self and supported friends and colleagues operated a silk factory and amassed a col- tion was sold in Japan and left to the Tokyo by purchasing their works. He caused lection that contained 177 works by artists National Museum5, but 163 Impressionist a furore by bequeathing his collection to such as Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Bonnard and naturalistic paintings, the heart of his the French state. At the time – just before and Denis.11 collection, were auctioned off in New York the turn of the century – Impressionist art In America it was the sugar refiner in 1913 and can be found today in American was not yet particularly highly regarded, and his wife collections.6 The fact that the first museum and so after long discussions only about Louisine who began collecting Impression- for Western art, the Ōhara Museum, which half of the works (today in the Musée ist art from an early date.12 In their exten- will be discussed below, was founded only d’Orsay) were reluctantly accepted.9 Addi- sive collection, from which their children as late as 1930, shows how far ahead of his tional collections of modern art were also donated 2,000 works to New York’s Met- time Hayashi was. formed, however. ropolitan Museum of Art in 1929, could be

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 15 14.09.15 12:43 16

found works by Courbet, Manet and Degas, established at the time, it can be seen that classes. The most important collectors of for example, but no art from the period of Tadamasa Hayashi’s collection, which was the time were the two entrepreneurs Kōjirō the Post-Impressionists and later. assembled primarily in the 1890s, was in Matsukata (1865 – 1950) (see also Mabuchi The collection of Albert C. Barnes fact one of the first non-French collections and Mathieu, here pp. 218 ff. and pp. 120 ff.), must also be mentioned. Barnes, who set worldwide. Between the two world wars the president of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, up a foundation in Merion, a suburb of growing international interest in Impres- and Magosaburō Ōhara (1880 – 1943) (see , in 1922,13 had amassed a con- sionism finally also reached Japan. also Yanagisawa, here pp. 216 ff.), presi- siderable fortune through the invention of dent of Kurashiki Textile Industry, Kurabō. an eye medication. In 1912 he had begun The Collections of Kōjirō Matsukata The Matsukata and Ōhara collections were assembling an extensive collection with and Magosaburō Ōhara the first fully-fledged collections of West- hundreds of works of modern Western ern modern art assembled by Japanese painting, with works by Renoir, Cézanne In the first and second decades of the twen- industrialists, and they formed the founda- and Matisse forming its core. tieth century the collecting of modern tion for today’s National Museum of West- Important collectors from other Eu- Western art with a focus on France experi- ern Art in Tokyo and the Ōhara Art Muse- ropean countries included Henry van enced a considerable escalation in Japan. um in Kurashiki. Cutsem (Belgium) and Wilhelm Hansen There was an unparalleled boom during the (Denmark), while in England the industri- period between the end of the First World Kōjirō Matsukata alist Samuel Courtauld was important. The War in 1918 and the great Kantō earthquake works of French modernism that Cour- of 1923. After Japan entered the world Kōjirō Matsukata (photo pp. 42 and 218), tauld collected in the 1920s are today in the stage as a victorious power in two conflicts whose father was a politician, studied in holdings of the Courtauld Institute of Art in (the First Sino-Japanese War, 1894/95, America from 1884 to 1890, first at Rutgers London. Although the collection is small in and the Russo-Japanese War 1904/05) the College and then at Yale, where he earned a scale, containing only 40 works, these are country’s economic situation improved degree in law. Before returning to his home of extremely high quality.14 continuously. Through the expansion of country he travelled through Europe. The Western collectors mentioned the arms industry, the First World War led During his two longer sojourns in London here, who were active at the end of the to a further economic upswing in Japan, and Paris (1916 – 1918 and 1921 – 1922, re- nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth while the island kingdom was spared dam- spectively) Matsukata had invested large centuries, had one thing in common: they age. The development of banking, the ship- sums in acquiring Western artworks for all sought through their artworks to make building industry, the textile branch and his collection.15 During his stay in London a contribution to the cultural education and other enterprises spawned affluent classes he became acquainted with the painter edification of the general public, which in with great financial power, and Japan prof- Frank Brangwyn (fig. p. 218). Not only did many cases led to the founding of galleries ited from the exchange rate of a strong Yen, he purchase paintings by Brangwyn, but and museums for their collections. In addi- which created the economic basis for the he also consulted him concerning his art tion to their love of art and their passion for acquisition of formerly unaffordable West- purchases. Matsukata already dreamed collecting they were moved by a clear social ern artworks and the building of collec- even then of founding a museum for West- commitment, which they shared with the tions. Modern Western art, especially the ern art in Japan, and asked his painter Japanese collectors. Impressionists, whose prices were not yet friend for a design for a Kyōrahu Art Mu- If we consider the origins of the col- so high, represented attractive collectors’ seum (fig. p. 220).16 Ultimately he brought lections of French painting that were items for Japan’s up-and-coming middle a hundred artworks, including sculptures,

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 16 15.09.15 11:00 Japan and the Impressionists 17

furniture and carpets, back with him to Japan. From 1921 to 1922 he expanded his collection to include English painters rec- ommended to him by his friend Brangwyn. In Paris he purchased modern and rather conservative paintings by artists such as Lucien Simon, Charles Cottet, Albert Besnard and Edmond Aman-Jean, which he selected on the recommendation of the director of the Musée de Luxembourg, 2 Pierre-Auguste Renoir Léonce Bénédite. In addition he pur- Woman by Spring, chased works by Monet, Renoir, van Gogh 1914, Ōhara Museum of Art, Kurashiki and Gauguin as well as by Moreau and Courbet.17 Important to mention in this context are also the eighteen works that he purchased from Monet during a visit to his country house in Giverny. He owed this meeting to the intercession of Sanji Kuroki, who will be discussed in more detail below. Matsukata left the 400 art- works that he acquired in Paris to Bénédite collections. But the Matsukata Collection for which he later had the Ōhara Museum for safe-keeping at the Musée Rodin. was surely one of the most important col- built, was one of these charitable contri- Of significance was also the purchase of lections of French modern art in Japan in butions, with which he aimed to render 34 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist the first half of the twentieth century. a service to society. In this he was assisted paintings from the holdings of the Dan- by the Japanese painter Torajirō Kojima ish art collector Wilhelm Hansen in 1923, Magosaburō Ōhara (fig. p. 216), whose studies of oil painting in which he had shipped directly to Japan. Europe he had also supported financially.19 There are no precise data about the Another important collector was Matsu- Kojima had studied in France and Belgium total holdings of the Matsukata Collection, kata’s contemporary, Magosaburō Ōhara, from 1908 to 1912, learning the paint- for the collection was dispersed early on a businessman who headed a spinning fac- ing style of the Impressionists and Neo- for a variety of reasons. But it can be pre- tory in Kurashiki Okayama Prefecture (see Impressionists at the Royal Academy of sumed that Matsukata originally acquired a also Yanagisawa, here pp. 216 ff.).18 Ōhara, Fine Arts in Ghent and using it to develop stock of around 10,000 works, among them who converted to Catholicism through his own pictorial world (figs. pp. 187, 192, more than 2,000 works of Western paint- the influence of Jūji Ishii, the founder of 196 and 197). During his stay in Europe he ing. A weakness of Matsukata’s collection the Okayama orphanage, wanted to make had also become increasingly interested was its attempt to assemble such a broad a positive contribution to the development in making Western painting accessible to spectrum of artistic movements, for it thus of the common good and became involved Japanese artists, so that before his return lacked a stringent concept in comparison, in several social projects. The bringing to Japan he requested Ōhara’s financial for example, to the Shchukin or the Barnes together of his collection of Western art, support in acquiring the work The Head of

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 17 14.09.15 12:43 18

3 Claude Monet Houses in the Snow and Mount Kolsaas, 1895 (cat. no. 4)

Hair by Edmond-François Aman-Jean and Among the 100 works that were brought to terpieces by the Nabis such as Bonnard’s bringing it back to Japan. Kurashiki were also trail-blazing works of Cats on the Railing (fig. p. 178) and Paul In 1913 Ōhara enabled the painter Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Sérusier’s Two Bretons with Blue Bird Kunishirō Mitsutani to study abroad in (albeit none by Cézanne or Gogh), the Nabis, (fig. p. 180) make Ōhara’s collection unique. France. Mitsutani visited Renoir and and the Fauves: Monet’s Water Lilies (1906), In addition to French painters it also in- placed an order for works by him; a year which Kojima purchased directly from the cludes works from Belgium (Léon Frédéric, later he purchased Woman by Spring artist in 1920, Gauguin’s Te Nave Nave Fenua Emile Claus) and Switzerland (Giovanni (fig. 2). Kojima, who stayed in Europe again (1892) and Matisse’s Portrait of Mademoi- Segantini, Ferdinand Hodler). The collec- from 1919 to 1921 and from 1922 to 1923, selle Matisse (1918) should be mentioned in tion represented a broad-based survey of zealously attempted to convince Ōhara to particular. In addition – as was also the case the trends in European painting at the time, purchase Western art. Ōhara consented, with the Matsukata Collection – Ōhara also with an emphasis on Paris apart from the in the light of its public and charitable purchased numerous works by the Sym- inclusion of El Greco’s Annunciation. aspects, and left Kojima to make the pur- bolists and Naturalists, especially works The exhibitions that were mounted chases on site. With the help of Aman- by painters connected with the Salon de la in Japan in 1921 and 1922 on the basis of Jean, who provided help and advice, he ea- Société nationale des Beaux-Arts. Kojima Kojima’s purchases proved very popular, gerly purchased works of modern French and Aman-Jean also belonged to this asso- thus serving further to stimulate Ōhara’s painting in particular and was able to as- ciation, as did Puvis de Chavannes, Charles passion for collecting and reinforcing his semble a respectable collection of high- Cottet, Lucien Simon, René Mesnard and plans to build a museum. The Ōhara Mu- quality paintings. George Desvallières. Outstanding mas- seum was founded in 1930, one year after

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 18 07.09.15 08:56 Japan and the Impressionists 19

4 Sanji Kuroki Takeko Kuroki, Claude Monet, Blanche Hoschedé, Nitia Salerou and Germaine Hoschedé with the painting Houses in the Snow and Mount Kolsaas, in the garden at Giverny, 1919

Kojima’s death, as the first exhibition venue The following will provide a brief glimpse Hayashi when it was dissolved, but his for Western art. When one considers that of other Japanese collectors who, in addi- plan failed, for it had already been decided even the Museum of Modern Art in New tion to Matsukata and Ōhara, purchased that the works would be sold at auction in York only opened its doors in 1929, Ōhara’s French modern painting between the two New York in 1913. In addition there were visionary spirit deserves proper acknow­ world wars.20 Works by Rodin and the Post- also a number of private collectors such ledgement. Ultimately he succeeded in re- Impressionists were greatly admired by as Kichizaemon Kishimoto, who with his alising the dream of a museum for Western the friends of the Japanese literary soci- fortune from heavy manufacturing, pur- art – which neither Hayashi nor Matsukata ety Shirakaba (“White Birch”). From 1917 chased predominantly Impressionist art, had been able to accomplish. there were plans for founding a museum and Shigetarō Fukushima, who assem- In addition to isolated sales, the Ōhara of the same name with the help of dona- bled around 150 masterpieces by Matisse, Museum of Art continued acquiring spe- tions; to this end works by Renoir, Pissarro Derain, Picasso and the École de Paris. cific works by Monet, Pissarro and Cézanne and van Gogh were acquired. But only Sanji Kuroki, who worked in banking as well as by Picasso, one exhibition in 1921 would be realised and financing, also deserves special men- Fautrier and Pollock, in order to expand its and the museum project came to nought. tion. Apart from his amicable relationship collection, as it still continues to do today. Moritatsu Hosokawa, who supported the to Monet, from whom he purchased paint- For this reason the Ōhara Collection is one acquisition of Cézanne’s Self-Portrait (to- ings during his stay in France from 1918 to of the few collections assembled before the day in the holdings of the Bridgestone 1922, he also collected works by Pissarro, Second World War whose holdings have Museum of Art, Tokyo), sought to buy up Sisley, Denis, Bonnard, Picasso and oth- remained in existence to the present day. works from the collection of Tadamasa ers. Monet’s Houses in the Snow and Mount

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 19 14.09.15 12:43 20

5 Paul Cézanne Mont Sainte-Victoire and Château Noir, 1904–06, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo

Kolsaas (fig. 3) comes from his collection. Collections after the Second World War ern artworks from their holdings. Shōjirō A photograph (fig. 4) shows Kuroki’s wife Ishibashi, the principal of the tyre manu- Takeko, wearing a kimono, together with The boom in Impressionist works on the facturer Bridgestone Co., Ltd., purchased Monet, his family and the painting. The art market at the beginning of the twen- these works and thus preserved them from painting was later acquired by the indus- tieth century quickly came to a standstill. the fate of being scattered throughout the trialist Kyūzaemon Wada and ultimately The three main reasons for this were the world (see also Kaizuka, here pp. 222 ff.). found its final home in the Uehara Museum Kantō earthquake in 1923, the ‘import tariff Ishibashi, who had begun collecting mod- of Modern Art. It was also Kuroki who ac- on luxury articles’ of 1924 (the tax rate ern Japanese art before the Second World companied Torajirō Kojima to Monet’s amounted to 100 %, which prompted Mat- War, intensified his purchases of Western country home in 1920 and helped him ac- sukata to store his purchases in Europe) painting after the war. Beginning with quire his Water Lilies. Moreover, Kuroki in- and the rapid rise in prices for Impression- works from the former Matsukata Collec- troduced Takeko’s uncle, Kōjirō Matsukata, ist and Post-Impressionist paintings in tion, he assiduously acquired paintings to Monet in 1921 and prompted him to pur- Europe and America.21 that had been brought to Japan before chase works by the artist. It is thus thanks Later it was the global economic crisis the war, but especially French modern art to Kuroki that both the Matsukata and of 1929 and finally the outbreak of the Sec- with a focus on Impressionism and Post- Ōhara collections contain works by Monet. ond World War that curtailed much of the Impressionism. The Bridgestone Museum collecting activity. of Art finally opened its doors in 1952. Following Japan’s defeat in the war, Its outstanding masterpieces, among many collectors were forced to sell West- them for example Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-­

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 20 14.09.15 12:43 Japan and the Impressionists 21

6 Daubigny’s Garden, 1890, Hiroshima Museum of Art, Hiroshima

Victoire and Château Noir (fig. 5), formed van Gogh’s Daubigny’s Garden (fig. 6) and Yoshino Gypsum Collection, whose high- one of the most prestigious collections of Renoir’s Judgment de Paris (fig. p. 145) quality works have found a home in the Western modern painting in Japan. (see also Furutani, here pp. 224 ff.). The Yamagata Museum of Art (see also Sato, From the 1970s, in the wake of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, founded in 1983, here pp. 232 ff.). There are also many other economic upswing, increasing numbers of specialises in Western painting and pho- museums housing private collections such collections originated as corporate hold- tography in general, but also owns works as the Kasama Nichido Museum of Art, the ings. Especially from the second half of the by Manet (fig. p. 5), as well as Impression- Hokugin Galerie Millet and the Marubeni 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s Japan ist works (see also Gokita, here pp. 226 ff.). Collection and other collections. experienced an inflating economic bub- In 1987 the Menard Art Museum opened The Tochigi Prefectural Museum ble. During this period numerous private in the city of Komaki (see also Kumazawa, of Fine Art (opened in 1972) occupies a and public museums were opened in rapid here pp. 208 ff); and in 2000 the Uehara groundbreaking position among the public succession; these acquired French modern Museum of Modern Art was built in Shi- museums. The Kitakyūshū Municipal Mu- painting and made it into a poster child moda in Izu Province. In 2002 the Pola seum of Art holds an oil painting by Degas (see also Westhoff, here pp. 234 ff.). Museum of Art opened in Hakone; it owns (fig. p. 119), whose work is found relatively Among the private museums, the an extensive collection of Impressionists seldom in Japan. The Yamanashi Prefec- Hiroshima Museum of Art must be men- and Post-Impressionists with works by tural Museum of Art (opened in 1978) pos- tioned. It opened in 1978 and built upon Monet among its highlights (figs. pp. 45, 53 sesses an extensive collection of works by the foundation of the collection of the Hi- and 67) (see also Iwasaki, here pp. 230 ff.). Millet (fig. p. 86) and the Barbizon School. roshima Bank, with, among other works, A further noteworthy collection is the The Museum of Modern Art Saitama

5493_Japan_Impressionismus_Umbruch7_final.indd 21 14.09.15 12:43