Taikan Yokoyama was born in the Mito District in 1868, the eldest son of
Sutehiko Sakai, a member of the samurai class of the Mito clan. In 1889, he
entered the first graduating class of Tokyo Fine Art School (now the Tokyo
National University of Fine Arts and Music). From the very beginning, he showed
great artistic potential. In 1898, to create a new movement in Japanese arts, he
set up the Nihon Bijutsuin(the Japan Arts Institute) in cooperation with Shunso
Hishida, Kanzan Shimomura, and one of his teachers, Tenshin Okakura. The new
style introduced novel techniques and methods and gave an innovative impetus to
the Japanese art world. Over the Taisho and Showa eras, he pictured a gorgeous
and decorative world following the traditional painting methods of the Rin
group, but at the same time, he actively attempted a more modern style with
clear tones using India ink, and adopted various Western painting methods as a
means of developing his technique. In 1937, he became the first winner of the
Order of Culture. Following the tradition of Japanese painting, with its sense
of color and dynamic composition, but, on the other hand, trying to take a new
viewpoint, Taikan's paintings featured a variety of subjects including nature,
scenery and portraits, establishing his own painting style and breathing new
life into the art world of the Meiji era. Throughout his seventy-year career in
painting, Taikan was always ahead of the times, always seeking new styles of
paintings he felt to be authentic. He leaves us a series of masterpieces that
escape being categorized into 'Japanese' or 'Western' paintings. He passed away
at his house in Ueno Ikenohata, Tokyo, on February 26, 1958. It is now open to
the public as the Yokoyama Taikan Memorial Hall.
