Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka Announces Two Special Exhibitions for Its 5th Anniversary: “All Stars” and Kaii Higashiyama, with Keiko Ueki as New Director

The Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (Kita-ku, Osaka) has announced outlines of two special exhibitions marking its 5th anniversary. From Saturday, April 10, 2027, it will hold “Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka All Stars” (subtitle omitted), drawn from its collection of about 7,000 works. From Saturday, October 9, 2027, it will hold “Kaii Higashiyama: 120th Anniversary of His Birth,” tracing the painter’s career through about 90 works. On October 1, 2026, Keiko Ueki, who has organized architecture and design exhibitions, became the museum’s new director.

“All Stars”: five chapters from a collection of about 7,000 works

The 5th anniversary special exhibition “Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka All Stars” runs from April 10 to July 19, 2027, divided into a first period (April 10 – May 30) and a second period (June 1 – July 19). It takes a fresh look at the collection, the core of the museum’s activities. The collection has grown from about 6,000 works at the time of the opening exhibition in February 2022 to about 7,000.

The exhibition is organized in five chapters: “The Stars Representing the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka,” “New Stars Making Their Debut,” “Big Stars Back After a Long Absence,” “Stars of Osaka” and “Stories Linking the Stars.” Drawing on common points such as production methods, materials, dates, artists and schools, it presents the works as a series of stories.

Major works include Amedeo Modigliani’s “Reclining Nude with Loose Hair” (1917), Yuzo Saeki’s “The Postman” (1928) and René Magritte’s “The Ready-Made Bouquet” (1957). Saeki’s “Petit Restaurant” (1927), purchased in 2025, will be shown for the first time in this exhibition. Frank Stella’s “The First Sword and the Last Broom” (1986, 491.0 × 426.0 × 63.0 cm) will be on view for the first time in 32 years, since 1995, and Pino Pascali’s “The Sea” (1966) for the first time since the museum opened.

In 1983, about 600 works from the collection of the businessman Hatsujiro Yamamoto were donated to the City of Osaka, including 31 works by Saeki. The museum’s holdings of works by Jiro Yoshihara number about 800, which it describes as the largest collection in Japan.

Kaii Higashiyama: 120th Anniversary of His Birth — the Toshodaiji Mieido paintings recreated

“Kaii Higashiyama: 120th Anniversary of His Birth — Commemorating the 5th Anniversary of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka” runs from October 9 to December 12, 2027. It is a large-scale retrospective of Kaii Higashiyama (1908–1999), held ahead of the 120th anniversary of his birth, and works will be changed during the exhibition. According to the museum, it is the first Higashiyama exhibition in Osaka in 45 years, since one at the National Museum of Art, Osaka (then in Suita) in 1982, and the first large-scale exhibition of his work within the city of Osaka. It will not tour and will be held only at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka.

A special display will show the wall and sliding-door paintings of the Mieido at Toshodaiji in an almost exact recreation of the Mieido’s interior, which is normally closed to the public. Commissioned in 1971, the paintings took 11 years to complete and consist of 68 sliding-door panels, wall paintings for the alcove, and door paintings inside the miniature shrine. Also on view will be the full-size preparatory drawing for a mural in the Imperial Palace, “Dawn Tide: Large Color-Coded Preparatory Drawing” (1967, about 4 m high × 15 m wide). Major works include “Afterglow” (1947, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), “The Road” (1950, same collection), “Year’s End” (1968, Yamatane Museum of Art) and “Echo of Green” (1982, Nagano Prefectural Art Museum, Higashiyama Kaii Gallery).

New director Keiko Ueki: a curator of architecture and design exhibitions

Ueki is from Niigata Prefecture. As a curator at the Suntory Museum [Tempozan] (closed in 2010), she mainly handled European architecture and design exhibitions, organizing shows such as “Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style,” “Jean Nouvel” and “Raymond Savignac.” “Pure Form: The Age of Dieter Rams” toured to Tokyo, Seoul and three cities in Europe and the United States, and its catalog and graphic works won a gold award from the New York ADC.

After moving to the Osaka City Museum of Modern Art Preparation Office (now the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka), she worked on building the museum’s PFI project scheme and on the “Industrial Design Archives Research Project.” In 2023 she organized “Art in Love with Design ♡ Design Jealous of Art.” On taking up the post, she noted that the museum has welcomed a cumulative 3 million visitors since its opening. She said that the four “aspirations” the museum has held since before it opened share an underlying commitment to “keeping a modest stance” and “looking closely at what is at our feet,” and that she will work on making use of the collection and archives, research, and learning programs. The museum and its neighbors are introduced in our guide to the museums of Nakanoshima, Osaka.

Overview

Name: 5th Anniversary Special Exhibition “Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka All Stars” (subtitle omitted)
Dates: Saturday, April 10 – Monday, July 19, 2027 (national holiday)
Hours: 10:00–17:00 (last admission 16:30)
Closed: Mondays (open May 3 and July 19)
Organizers: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka; The Yomiuri Shimbun; MBS
Name: Kaii Higashiyama: 120th Anniversary of His Birth — Commemorating the 5th Anniversary of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Dates: Saturday, October 9 – Sunday, December 12, 2027
Closed: Mondays (open October 11 and November 22)
Organizers: Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka; Nikkei Inc.; TV Osaka; The Kobe Shimbun
Venue: Both exhibitions in the 5th-floor galleries of the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka
Address: 4-3-1 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku, Osaka
Admission: Not yet announced for either exhibition
Official website: https://nakka-art.jp/ (special website for the Kaii Higashiyama exhibition: https://art.nikkei.com/kaii120/)
*Information as of October 20, 2026. Please check the official website for the latest information.

*Top image: Yuzo Saeki, “The Postman,” 1928, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on announcements by the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (October 1, 8 and 15, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team