We are pleased to present "MUKAI Junkichi Exhibition" to commemorate our 100th anniversary.
Many people are familiar with his paintings of private houses represented by straw roofs.
Born in Kyoto in 1901, Mr. Mukai lived through the turbulent 20th century and devoted his life to creating paintings that document the changing face of Japan. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, he produced a work on Niigata, and since then, he had continued to paint private houses as his lifelong subject matter, and his works are said to number some 2,000.
In the aftermath of the war and during the period of rapid economic growth after the war, Japanese private houses were destined to be rapidly erased, and Mr. Mukai worked hard to capture their appearance. His paintings are not limited to simply depicting the disappearing typical Japanese style houses, but are also a valuable record of Japan's changing climate, culture, and lifestyle.
This exhibition honors the essence of Mukai's art, which tells us about the culture through the original landscapes of Japan, by displaying more than 30 oil paintings he created during his travels throughout Japan, including Shinano, Koshu, Kyoto, and Tohoku.