Kanji Maeda Exhibition at the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art Until December 13; 130th Anniversary of His Birth, the First Large-Scale Retrospective in 18 Years

The special exhibition “Kanji Maeda: 130th Anniversary of His Birth – Poésie and Réalisme, 100 Years Since the Founding of the 1930 Association” is on view at the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art (Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture) until Sunday, December 13. It marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tottori-born Western-style painter Kanji Maeda (1896–1930) and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the “1930 Association,” an art group Maeda launched with Yuzo Saeki and others. The museum describes it as the first large-scale retrospective in 18 years.

A brief profile of Kanji Maeda

Maeda was born in 1896 in Kunisaka, Nakahojo Village, Tohaku District, Tottori Prefecture (now Hokuei Town), and learned the basics of oil painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He stayed in Paris for two years and five months, studying Western painting.

After returning to Japan, he presented large paintings of women and nudes at the Imperial Art Exhibition (Teiten). He launched the 1930 Association with Katsuzo Satomi, Takanori Kinoshita and others, and continued to present experimental works, give lectures and write for art magazines, but he died in 1930 at the age of 33.

In the exhibition title, “poésie” refers to poetic sensibility and “réalisme” to realism. The exhibition looks back on a career devoted to fusing the two, and also introduces works by members of the association.

What can visitors see? Five chapters and major works

• Chapter 1 “Painting Is Poetry”: Early works and poems he wrote as a student. Works by Matisse, Denis and Guérin that he saw in the Ohara Collection as a student are also shown

• Chapter 2 Study in Paris: Awakening to Realism: Sketches of the Einsteins, with whom he spent several days aboard the ship to France, works on the theme of “workers,” and female figures

• Chapter 3 Success After Returning to Japan: In Search of a Sense of Reality (Réalité): The large nudes he presented one after another, with their varied use of color and brushwork

• Chapter 4 The 1930 Association: “Realism of Life”: Works by members shown at the association’s exhibitions

• Chapter 5 “How Should One Transcend?”: Seascapes and landscapes he worked on until his last years

The museum names the series of works on the theme of “workers,” painted in Paris, as the highlight of the exhibition. “Two Workers” (1923) from the Ohara Museum of Art is also on display.

Maeda’s main works on the list of exhibited works are as follows. Exhibits are subject to change.

• “Child in a Straw Hat” (c. 1920, Yokosuka Museum of Art)

• “Two Workers” (1923, Ohara Museum of Art)

• “Portrait of a Woman in Black” (1925, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)

• “Portrait of Mademoiselle J. C.” (1925, Kurayoshi Museum)

• “Nude” (1928, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama)

• “The Master Carpenter’s Family” (1928, Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art)

• “Sea” (c. 1929, Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art)

• “Sea (Final Work)” (1930, Kurayoshi Museum)

What was the 1930 Association? A new kind of oil painting pursued with Yuzo Saeki and others

The 1930 Association was an art group launched by Kanji Maeda, Katsuzo Satomi, Zentaro Kojima, Takanori Kinoshita and Yuzo Saeki with the aim of creating a new kind of oil painting in Japan. According to the museum, it won support especially from painters of the younger generation. 2026 marks 100 years since its founding.

Chapter 4 centers on works shown at exhibitions organized by the association. The list of exhibited works includes Yuzo Saeki’s “Advertisement (An Juno)” (1927, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka) and Katsuzo Satomi’s “Woman” (1929, Kyoto City Museum of Art). Works by Takanori Kinoshita, Zentaro Kojima, Takeshi Hayashi, Usaburo Ihara, Kigai Kawaguchi, Toshiyuki Hasegawa, Ichiro Fukuzawa and others are also on view. In the collection exhibition, the related project “Another Contemporaneity” introduces the activities of artists who lived in the same era as Maeda through works such as Harue Koga’s “Untitled” (c. 1926). The “Étrangers” exhibition, on view at the Artizon Museum in Tokyo until January 31, 2027, also includes “Advertisements on a Terrace” (1927) by Yuzo Saeki of the 1930 Association.

Related events and an exhibition in his hometown of Hokuei

Special lectures will be held for four consecutive weeks from Sunday, November 15. They take place in the 1st-floor Hall (the fourth in Studios 2 and 3 on the 1st floor), from 14:00 to 15:30 each time, and are free. No reservation is needed; each is limited to the first 60 people.

• Sunday, November 15: Tsutomu Mizusawa (art historian and art critic, former director of The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama), “Rushing In and Painting: Kanji Maeda Today”

• Saturday, November 21: Takashi Mitani (Kanji Maeda researcher), “Reading 502 Letters Addressed to Kanji-san: Seeing Inside the Painter’s Heart and Behind the Canvas”

• Saturday, November 28: Atsushi Miura (director, Ohara Museum of Art, Ohara Art Foundation), “Kanji Maeda and Western Painting (provisional title)”

• Sunday, December 6: Masahide Tamura (curator, The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama), “Kanji Maeda and the 1930 Association (provisional title)”

On Sunday, November 22, from 17:30 to 20:00, the acoustic live event “A Night of Poésie” takes place in the 1st-floor Hiroma, featuring Yuko Ikema and oono yuuki; reservations are required (2,000 yen for the live performance only; free for high school students and younger). On Monday, November 23 (a public holiday), there is a workshop by painter Kazuya Sakamoto (reservation and a special exhibition ticket required). Curators’ gallery talks are held on Sunday, October 25 and Tuesday, November 3 (a public holiday) from 14:00 to 15:00, and on Saturday, December 12 from 10:00 to 11:00 (no registration needed; special exhibition ticket required).

In Maeda’s hometown of Hokuei, a separate exhibition is being held at the same time: “Kanji Maeda: 130th Anniversary of His Birth – From Treasured Works in His Hometown” at the Hokuei Mirai Denshokan (Hokuei Town Hojo Museum of History and Folklore), until Sunday, November 15 (9:00–17:00, free).

Tickets, prices and access

Admission is 1,500 yen for adults, 950 yen for students, 500 yen for high school students and 300 yen for elementary and junior high school students. Groups of 20 or more pay 1,200 yen for adults, 750 yen for students, 400 yen for high school students and 240 yen for elementary and junior high school students (advance ticket sales ended on October 9). Preschool children, people with disabilities, patients with intractable diseases, people requiring nursing care and their caregivers are free. A special exhibition ticket also covers the collection exhibition on the same day.

An admission ticket that comes with a Kanji Maeda label wine made by Kurayoshi Winery (red or white, limited to 80 bottles) costs 3,000 yen for adults, and one with a wine snack set costs 2,600 yen for adults. Opening hours are 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), and the museum is closed on Mondays (open on November 23) and Tuesday, November 24.

The museum is right by the “Kenritsu Bijutsukan-mae” bus stop, about 10 minutes by bus from JR Kurayoshi Station (an 8-minute walk from the “Kurayoshi Park Square Kitaguchi” stop). By taxi it takes about 9 minutes. It is about 2 hours 40 minutes by JR limited express from Okayama Station and about 3 hours from Osaka Station. By car, it is about 50 minutes from Yubara IC on the Yonago Expressway and about 1 hour from Innosho IC on the Chugoku Expressway. From February 11, 2027, the museum will host “Godzilla: THE ART Exhibition”.

Overview

Name: Kanji Maeda: 130th Anniversary of His Birth – Poésie and Réalisme, 100 Years Since the Founding of the 1930 Association
Dates: Saturday, October 10 – Sunday, December 13, 2026
Hours: 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (open on October 12 and November 23), Tuesday, October 13, Tuesday, November 24
Venue: 3F Special Exhibition Gallery, Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art
Address: 2-3-12 Dakyoji-machi, Kurayoshi, Tottori
Admission: Adults 1,500 yen, students 950 yen, high school students 500 yen, elementary and junior high school students 300 yen (group rates for 20 or more)
Organizers: Kanji Maeda Exhibition Executive Committee (Tottori Prefecture, Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art Partners, TSK San-in Chuo Television), NHK Enterprises Chugoku
Sponsors: Kurayoshi Winery, Kuwata Soy Sauce Brewery, Baku (a specialist buyer of paintings and artworks)
Official website: https://tottori-moa.jp/exhibition/view/maetakanji/
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Reference image: a work by Kanji Maeda (1930) (public domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on press materials from the Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art (August 7 and October 1, 2026) and information on the official website.

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team