Itabashi Nihonga: Selections from the Permanent Collection

The ward-operated Itabashi Art Museum does not have a permanent exhibition but carries a good collection of avant-garde works from the Edo, Meiji and Taisho periods, especially by artists who had close relationships with the ward. Now picking out a selection of particularly noteworthy Nihonga (traditional-style Japanese painting) pieces from its archives, the museum shines a light on artists active in the so-called Ikebukuro Montparnasse community, which flourished in neighbouring Toshima from the late ’20s until the end of World War II. The pieces on display reflect the social conditions and concerns of their time, beginning with the proletarian movement of the ’20s and ’30s before moving onto the wartime years and into the age of postwar activism.