The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

This exhibition serves as the first full-scale retrospective of the career of Okamoto Shinso, a highly acclaimed Japanese painter of traditional bijin-ga (artworks of beautiful women) active during the early 20th century. Some 100 pieces are on display, including paintings, drawings, rough sketches, and documents. Guests will observe the progression of Okamoto’s stylistic approach, which was first characterized by overt eroticism, but morphed into states of greater subtlety over time. Guests will also view works from rival artists active at the time of Okamoto’s career, such as Kainosho Tadaoto, providing a historical context for the significance of these time-honored masterpieces.