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.