明治中期の洋画（一）―明治美術会を中心として―

Japan early in the Meiji Period (1868-1911) was eager to import Western culture in order to establish herself as a modern nation in political, social and cultural aspects. In art, Western-style painting began to be very active. In the second decade of this period, however, the re-awakening of traditional Japanese culture began, and a drastic drive was launched for the restoration and encouragement of native arts. This movement developed into an excessive nationalism, under whose oppression the Western-style painting declined for a certain period of time. Around the late 1880's, Japanese painters and sculptors who had been studying in Europe began to come back. These, in cooperation with their friends who had remained in Japan, organized in 1889 the Meiji Bijutsu-kai (Meiji Art Society), the first organization of Western-style artists in this country. Painters and sculptors in the Western style joined the society from all parts of the country, and many of noted statesmen and scholars assisted its activity as its supporting members. From the year of its establishment until 1900 the society held its exhibitions annually, inviting artists at large to show their works; it also held meetings of researches and discussions to promote studies and spread of Western-style arts. It furthermore established the Meiji Bijutsu Gakkō (Meiji Art School) for guidance of young artists, and also built a permanent exposition hall to facilitate public appreciation of Western-style arts. The styles of the painters in this society were chiefly those derived from the European academism, but later on, around 1893, the technique of the Plein-airistic School was introduced anew. The Plein-airistic artists, however, departed from this society a few years later and organized a separate group named the Hakubakai. The tradition of the academic style in the Meiji Bijutsu-kai was inherited by the Taiheiyō Ga-kai (Pacific Art Society), an organization which succeeded the activity of the Meiji Bijutsu-kai after the latter was disbanded. Important among the painters of the Meiji Bijutsu-kai were ASAI Chū, KOYAMA Shōtarō, MATSUOKA Hisashi, HONDA Kinkichirō, YAMAMOTO Hōsui, HARADA Naojirō, KAWAMURA Kiyoo, GOSEIDA Yoshimatsu, MATSUI Noboru and NAGANUMA Moriyoshi.