In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Lehrstuhl für Restaurierung der TU München konnte der Akt eines alten Mannes von Theodor Recknagl (1886) aus der Sammlung der Akademie restauriert und nach Japan ausgeliehen werden. Dort wird das Gemälde von März bis September 2016 auf den vier Stationen der Ausstellung über Leben und Werk des japanischen Künstlers Najohiro Harada gezeigt werden. Harada hatte in den Jahren 1884-1886 wie auch Recknagl an der Münchner Kunstakademie studiert.
Abstract zur Ausstellung:
Naojiro Harada: Retrospective
Naojiro HARADA (1863−99), a Japanese painter, studied European style painting at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich during 1884-86. He also learned personally from Gabriel von Max and was a close friend of Julius Exter. In Munich he mastered the fundamentals of painting and created substantial works.
A Japanese famous writer, Ogai MORI (1862−1922), also studied at that time in Munich and became Harada’s best supporter. His diary and essays are today precious documentations to know how Harada studied and led an active life in Munich. Mori also wrote a short novel “Utakatano-ki,” in which characters modeled after Harada and Exter appeared.
After returning to Japan, Harada established a private school “Shobi-kan” in Tokyo and played an important role in introducing the technique of European style painting into Japan. Those days there was a tendency in Japan to reject European style painting in order to protect Japanese traditional style. But Harada powerfully continued to send his works, mainly portraits and some history paintings to major exhibitions in order to convey the appeal of European style painting to audiences.
Recently Harada’s works are again evaluated. His masterpiece Shoemaker, created in Munich in 1886, shows us that he is one of the best European style painters with solid technique among his Japanese contemporaries. In addition, his large-scale picture Kannon Bodhisattva Riding the Dragon, exhibited in the Third Domestic Industrial Exhibition in 1890, is an ambitious work to convey the concept of European “religious painting” to Japan. Today these two pieces are regarded as Important Cultural Properties.
Nevertheless Harada’s Retrospective has never been held after 1909, in which Ogai Mori organized it commemorating the 10th year anniversary of Harada’s death. It is mainly because he died young at the age of 36 and didn’t hand down enough works for exhibition. This retrospective will aim to introduce as many his paintings, drawing and illustrations as possible and pursue his life with the documentations and the works of his teachers, friends and followers. The exhibition will also show what he artistically learned from Munich and what he was willing to bring to our country, which just began to be exposed to European art.
*This exhibition will tour to the following 4 prefectural museums in 2016.
-The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama: February 11-March 27, 2016
-The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama: April 8-May 15, 2016
-The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art: May 27-July 10, 2016
-Iwami Art Museum: July 23-September 5, 2016