青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

For five decades, the Hoshino Art Gallery in Kyoto has worked to unearth little-known Japanese artists from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. Challenging the focus on “masterpieces” in prevailing narratives of modern Japanese art, the gallery stubbornly selects works based not on fame, but on whether they possess the power to please the discerning eyes of owners Keizo and Mamiko Hoshino. It was the first to showcase painters such as Teruo Hada, Tadaoto Kainosho, Shinso Okamoto, and Tetsu Fusen, all of whom enjoy great renown today.

This book covers every one of the 160 exhibitions the gallery has hosted in the half century since its founding. A massive number of plates—some 1,000, including of invitations, exhibition views, and newspaper and magazine clippings—chronicles the trajectory of this singular gallery and its inquiry into modern Kyoto art history.

Hoshino Art Gallery grew out of an art dealership named Art Consultants Hoshino founded in 1971 by the husband-and-wife team of Keizo and Mamiko Hoshino. The gallery opened in 1973 and moved to its current home along Jingu-michi avenue in northeastern Kyoto in 1982. Dedicated to the rediscovery of little-known artists, it hosts exhibitions including the signature Forgotten Painters series, which focuses on artists from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. It has also loaned pieces to more than 250 outside exhibitions throughout Japan.