Nihonga, Transcending the Past: Japanese-Style Painting 1868-1968

Soon after Japan was opened up to the West in 1868, a new world opened up to the Japanese painters. In the midst of an atmosphere of rapid change and many new influences, some painters chose to immerse themselves in tradition; some looked almost entirely to the West for inspiration; and still others chose to transcend the past by merging Japanese tradition and Western influences. This last group of artists devoted themselves to the art known as Nihonga. Nihonga selects and incorporates many trends and traditions, from Chinese literati painting to abstract expressionism. This study examines the first century of the development of Nihonga, from the middle decades of the 19th century through modern masterpieces of abstraction and representation created in the 1960s. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Musuem, it represents a collaboration of American and Japanese scholars on the art of Nihonga. The catalogue, undertaken with the support of the Japan Foundation and prepared with the cooperation of 80 Japanese museums, corporations and individuals, features 171 works by 61 artists, including framed paintings, folding screeens, fusuma (sliding wood doors), hanging scrolls, handscroll and albums.