Scheduled Exhibition The Aoki Collection: Soho and Tosaku
Exhibit Period
Saturday, December 3 - Sunday, January 15
Exhibit Times
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(last admissions at 4:30 p.m.)
Organized by
Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art
Museum closed
Mondays (open when Monday is a national holiday), the day following national holidays
Admission Fee
Adults: 500 (450) yen High School, College Students: 300 (270) yen * Fees in parentheses are group rates for 20 or more visitors * Free admission for visitors aged over 70 years, elementary and junior high school students, and preschoolers * Half price for visitors with a physical disability certificate, and half price for one accompanying caregiver
Overview
Aoki Tosaku (1870-1946) was an entrepreneur who ran a fertilizer shop in the center of Tochigi Prefecture. When he read Kokumin no Tomo (The Nation’s Friend) by Tokutomi Soho, who was active as a journalist at the time, it made a deep impression on him, and he visited Soho’s home. Thereafter, Tosaku came to look up to him as his teacher. It was also under Soho’s influence that Tosaku began collecting works of art. This collection spanned a variety of genres, including Utagawa Hiroshige’s hand painted works and ukiyo-e prints, prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika, oil paintings by Kawamura Kiyoo, and Tokutomi Soho’s calligraphy and resource works. Tosaku, who collected and enjoyed artwork as a result of his relationship with Soho, also engaged in the publishing and distribution of books which reproduced the works in his collection. From these activities we glimpse a man who not only appreciated works of art personally, but also wanted many others to get to know them.
In this exhibition, we introduce seasonal works from Tosaku’s collection and the reproductions he published, with an emphasis on those of Spring.
Museum Talk
Saturday, December 3, from 1:30 p.m.
Presented by a Bato Hiroshige Museum curator