Taikan Yokoyama was born in the Mito District in 1868, the eldest son of Sutehiko Sakai, a member of the samurai class of the Mito clan. In 1889, he entered the first graduating class of Tokyo Fine Art School (now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music). From the very beginning, he showed great artistic potential. In 1898, to create a new movement in Japanese arts, he set up the Nihon Bijutsuin(the Japan Arts Institute) in cooperation with Shunso Hishida, Kanzan Shimomura, and one of his teachers, Tenshin Okakura. The new style introduced novel techniques and methods and gave an innovative impetus to the Japanese art world. Over the Taisho and Showa eras, he pictured a gorgeous and decorative world following the traditional painting methods of the Rin group, but at the same time, he actively attempted a more modern style with clear tones using India ink, and adopted various Western painting methods as a means of developing his technique. In 1937, he became the first winner of the Order of Culture. Following the tradition of Japanese painting, with its sense of color and dynamic composition, but, on the other hand, trying to take a new viewpoint, Taikan's paintings featured a variety of subjects including nature, scenery and portraits, establishing his own painting style and breathing new life into the art world of the Meiji era. Throughout his seventy-year career in painting, Taikan was always ahead of the times, always seeking new styles of paintings he felt to be authentic. He leaves us a series of masterpieces that escape being categorized into 'Japanese' or 'Western' paintings. He passed away at his house in Ueno Ikenohata, Tokyo, on February 26, 1958. It is now open to the public as the Yokoyama Taikan Memorial Hall.

 

 

 

   

 


Selected painting


            

 

 

 

The Japanese Master


| Kanoh HOHGAI | Gaho HASHIMOTO | Bairei KONO | Keinen IMAO | Hobun KIKUCHI  |

| Seiho TAKEUCHI | Taikan YOKOYAMA | Shunkyo YAMAMOTO | Gyokudo KAWAI |

| Kanzan SHIMOMURA | Shunso HISHIDA | Shoen UEMURA | Nishimura GOUN |

| Hyakusui HIRAFUKU | Kiyokata KABURAKI | Kansetsu HASHIMOTO | SeisonMAEDA |

| Shinsui ITO | Kayo YAMAGUCHI | Shoko UEMURA | Kaii HIGASHIYAMA |