Modern Western Art Meets Japan

Torajiro Kojima (1881-1929) was a Japanese artist who chose to learn the techniques of the Impressionists. After a course in Western painting at the University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo, Japan, Torajiro Kojima left Japan in 1908 to study in Paris. With the Ohara family as patrons, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, where he trained in Luminism.

Japanese Impressionism is Born

In 1912 Kojima returned to Japan. From 1920 onwards, he travelled to Europe several times for patron Magosaburo Ohara to purchase Western art by Claus, Delvin, Monet, Matisse, Marquet and Rodin, among others. These paintings now form the heart of the collection of the Ohara Museum of Art in Kurashiki, the first museum of modern Western art in Japan. Opened in 1929, this museum is also home to many of Torajiro Kojima’s paintings which are some of the first examples of Japanese Impressionism.

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Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons (detail)

Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese, Woman Reading, Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Image source: Wikimedia [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

Details

• Torajirō Kojima (1881-1925), Japanese
• Woman Reading
• Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent,
• Image source: Wikimedia
• [Public domain or CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

Sources

1. Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Torajiro Kojima – Woman Reading.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Torajiro_Kojima_-_Woman_Reading.jpg&oldid=319463489 (accessed October 29, 2018).
2. Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium, Torajiro Kojima, Woman Reading, http://www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/collection.aspx?p=0848cab7-2776-4648-9003-25957707491a&inv=1921-CD (accessed 30 Oct 2018).

Thanks for Reading! 🙂

The End