Museums

A platform for information and creativity, built around a collection of modern and contemporary art and design from Osaka and around the world
Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka opened on February 2, 2022 in the Nakanoshima district of central Osaka. It has a collection of over 6,000 works, focusing on superb works of art and design from Japan and around the world created between the mid-nineteenth century and the present, together with additional examples of the richness of art produced here in Osaka. It is highly rated for notable works by Saeki Yuzo, Amedeo Modigliani, works by the Gutai Art Association leader Yoshihara Jiro, and well-known masterpieces by international artists.
The museum aims to be an open hub for art-based activities, with the architecture incorporating a passage—an alley or arcade allowing pedestrians to transit freely—where anyone, regardless of their level of interest in art, can experience and perhaps be inspired by art as they casually pass through. The museum is proud to serve the public in its role as a new platform for art, exhibiting works from its varied collection and actively producing and presenting a wide range of exhibitions.

Main works (stored items)

SAEKI Yuzo, Postman, 1928

Saeki Yuzo (1898-1928), a painter born in Osaka City who moved to Paris in the 1920s, tragically passed away in a country far from his hometown at the young age of 30. One of the few full-body portraits by the artist, Postman, is considered to be one of his final pieces, painted approximately five months before his death. In this front facing portrait, we see the postman seated on a chair, holding a lit cigarette. The brushwork is characteristic of Saeki's vigorous and swift style, with the simplified body tilted diagonally and reduced to linear forms. The squared face features rough touches such as the thickly applied paint of the white beard and the contour of the eyes drawn with a single stroke. From the reddened cheeks and the compelling gaze directed towards the viewer, one can sense an intense emotion, as if the artist had poured his final vitality into this character.

Saeki Yuzo graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and then left for France in November 1923. In the following June, a scathing critique of his work by the French painter Maurice de Vlaminck prompted him to search for his own artistic style. Eventually, he found inspiration in the back streets of Paris, using subjects like modest bars, inns, and street corners, emphasizing materiality and advertising text in his unique style. Especially after his temporary return to Japan, he established a peerless style right after re-entering Paris in 1927, characterized by dynamic thin lines that leap across the canvas, focusing on posters that were predominantly text, plastered on walls.

However, Saeki continued to search for a satisfying artistic expression and evolved his style until the end. "Postman" was created in March 1928 when Saeki's health declined from working relentlessly in the cold and rainy weather, and he had to be confined to bed. The painting came about after a chance meeting with a postman who came to deliver mail to the Saeki residence, whom he asked to model for him. He produced three pieces, a full-body portrait, a half-body oil painting, and a gouache, in just two days, indicating how much he favored this model. Around the same time, after working on another portrait and two paintings of doors, he coughed up blood at the end of March. From then on, he no longer held a brush, and his mental health deteriorated further until his death in August 1928.

Amedeo MODIGLIANI, Reclining Nude with Loose Hair, 1917

During World War I in France, while some artists went to the front lines, Amedeo Modigliani was exempt from military service due to health reasons. He remained in Paris, where he explored new forms of artistic expression with colleagues such as Picasso and Tsuguharu Fujita. At one point, he aspired to be a sculptor but returned to portraiture around 1914, becoming known for his unique style, characterized by almond-shaped eyes and elongated necks in his subjects.

It was the art dealer Zborowski who encouraged him to work on the classic Western art subject of nude paintings. Subsequently, nude paintings became a major theme in Modigliani's art. During his short life, he created around 40 exquisite nude female figures until his death at the age of 35. Unlike his portraits of friends and acquaintances, he hired professional models for the nude figures, and these paintings were created within the Zborowski couple's apartment.

Reclining Nude with Loose Hair is one of the works from a period when he intensively focused on nude figures. It depicts a healthy-looking young woman with black hair flowing to her shoulders, reclining on a sofa cushion. She strikes a bold and confident pose, tightly bending her left leg and covering her private parts with her left hand. The oval contours of her face and the sharply drawn long nose are reminiscent of African masks. Fearlessly meeting our gaze with wide-open eyes, she embodies the traditional artistic style of nudes seen in Italian art, reminiscent of Giorgione or Titian, while also presenting an innovative and modern portrayal of humanity. Her figure, with the head and legs seemingly pressed onto a flat plane, exudes a remarkable sense of physical volume, reflecting Modigliani's sculptural aspirations.

This piece was acquired by the art critic Fukushima Shigetaro in Paris during the 1920s and was first exhibited in Tokyo in 1934. Many Japanese people came to know Modigliani's art through this work. Later, in 1938, it came into the possession of Osaka businessman Yamamoto Hatsujirō, and in 1989, the city of Osaka purchased it for the collection of the planned Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka. It is a masterpiece that represents the collection and has attracted attention from overseas.