青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

Ono Chikkyo (1889–1979) began studying nihonga (Japanese-style painting) with Takeuchi Seiho at age fourteen, training alongside such future masters of the genre as Hashimoto Kansetsu, Uemura Shoen, and Tsuchida Bakusen. Drawn also to Western art, he embraced color and sought to innovate nihonga, including by taking part in the 1916 founding of the Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (Society for the Creation of National Painting). In his later years he produced lyrical portrayals of Japanese landscapes, becoming a leading figure in the Kyoto art world and receiving the Order of Culture in 1976.

This collection sheds light on Chikkyo’s trajectory and allure through 100 paintings and 50 sketches and other works from every phase of his career—carefully selected out of some 1,700 pieces with the full cooperation of the Chikkyo Art Museum, Kasaoka—together with text by leading Chikkyo expert Shiro Uezono. An introduction, thirteen essays on wide-ranging aspects of Chikkyo’s art, and commentary on every work make for a volume filled with intellectual as well as visual delight.

Shiro Uezono is an art historian. Born in 1956 in Kagoshima Prefecture, he served successively as curator, director (2008–2020), and advisor (2020–2022) of the Chikkyo Art Museum, Kasaoka. His curated exhibitions include All of the Life of Chikkyo, Tsuchida Bakusen, and History of the Society for the Creation of National Painting; he has also published numerous books, among them Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai no zenbo (The Complete Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai; coauthored, Mitsumura Suiko Shoin, 1996) and Ono Chikkyo taisei (The Ono Chikkyo Compendium; Shogakukan, 1999), for which he was head editor.