Hazama Inosuke, Artist, Collector

Hazama Inosuke was an artist who, in his youth, gained recognition in the Fusain-kai and the Nika Association, organizations of progressive Western-style painters. He is also remembered as a mentor to the younger generation at Tokyo University of the Arts, before devoting himself in his later years to the creation of glazed ceramics. Along with his creative work, Hazama Inosuke was committed to introducing Western art to Japan, editing books of works by Courbet and van Gogh and negotiating with Matisse to produce the first retrospective exhibition (1951) of his work in Japan. An avid collector - two of his works, Matisse's Collioure (1905) and Rousseau's Quai d'Ivry (about1907), are now in the Ishibashi Foundation Collection - Hazama had a multifaceted character and great artistic talent. This exhibition features sixty oil paintings, prints, ceramics and other works by Hazama, reference materials as well as Western art from the museum's collection, which Hazama helped acquire over the years.