The Kansai Bijutsuin was established in the 39th year of the Meiji era (1906). In 2006, commemorating its 100
th year anniversary, a grand “Chu Asai and Kansai Bijutsuin Exhibition” was held in the Kyoto City Museum of Art and Fuchu Art Museum. Kansai Bijutsuin is Japan’s oldest 1privately established institute for western painting.
Founded by a group of Meiji era artists led by Chu Asai, the Kansai Bijutsuin has fostered numerous talented artists and birthed such leaders in western painting in Japan as Sotaro Yasui, Ryuzaburo Umehara, and Kunitaro Suda.
The building is an early work of the architect Goichi Takeda renown for designing the Kyoto City Hall and Kyoto Prefectural Library and may be said to be a cultural treasure of Kyoto. The building was designated as a “Registered Tangible Cultural Asset” in 2016 and was recognized as a “Building or Garden Beautifying Kyoto” in 2022.
The studio enjoys steady beautiful natural light from its north side throughout the day. There is no better environment for cast and life studies.
Through its 120 year history, Kansai Bijutsuin has turned out generations of artists who later in turn pass on its traditions as instructors. Today, students work to improve their skills on a daily basis.
We intensively study the fundamentals of painting in a setting of unbroken historical tradition.
Footnote
- Japan’s oldest on points of being “currently active”, “established privately”, and “never publicly funded”. ↩︎