Hybridity and eclecticism may be key concepts in much contemporary art, yet they are not new phenomena. In the Taisho Era (1912-1926), Tetsugoro Yorozu virtually personified the idea of hybrid art: As Japan rushed toward modernization, he not only experimented with the very latest forms of Western art then flooding in, but re-examined aspects of Asian art being neglected.
A comprehensive new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Hayama reviews Yorozu¡¯s career, bringing together more than 400 of his artworks in various media, with 100 of them being displayed in rotation during the exhibition run. ¡°Yorozu Tetsugoro 1885-1927¡± took over two years to plan and opens to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the artist¡¯s untimely death.
In the first room, an early interest in impressionism is evident in the soft, pale tones of a view of a shrine from 1909. By this time, Yorozu was studying in the Department of Western Art at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (present-day Tokyo University of the Arts). There, he threw himself into mastering figure painting, which was at the core of the curriculum. Heading the department was Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924), one of the foremost champions of 19th- century Western-style painting in Japan at that time.
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