KAINOSHO Tadaoto: Crossing Boundaries in Nihonga, Theater and Film

Beyond eccentricity, approaching the complete picture of Kainosho Tadaoto which no one has ever seen

Kainosho Tadaoto (1894-1978) was active as a nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist from the Taisho to the early Showa era and presented on after another enterprising work as a member of “Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (The Association for the Creation of National Painting),” an art group seeking innovative expressions in Japanese-style painting. However, after Kainosho interrupted his career as a painter at the beginning of the 1940s and switched to the film industry, his achievements as a nihonga artist were long neglected. This exhibition is his first in 26 year full-scale retrospective held in a museum in Tokyo since 1997. In this exhibition, all the works and materials concerning Kainosho including paintings, scrapbooks, photographs, sketchbooks, videos, film costumes, and posters are exhibited with equal significance. The exhibition aims to redefine Kainosho Tadaoto who was a painter, a historical researcher and verifier in the film industry, and a hobbyist with a deep knowledge in theater, as “an artist of complex and multifaceted characteristics,” who crossed numerous boundaries.

Kainosho Tadaoto and Jidaigeki (period drama) films

As a historical researcher and a verifier of costumes and customs, Kainosho Tadaoto made enormous contributions to the jidaigeki (period drama) films at its golden age. The knowledge and insight he had cultivated through painting and appreciating classical Japanese popular performing arts won the trust of distinguished jidaigeki directors such as Mizoguchi Kenji, Ito Daisuke, and Matsuda Sadatsugu. Mizoguchi once said “The work becomes elegant with Kainosho’s support.”　Many of those costumes that were stored in Toei Kyoto Studios are revealed in the exhibition. All these materials such as luxurious and gorgeous costumes which a film star Ichikawa Utaemon has worn tells us Kainosho’s insight and sensibility.

1. The largest retrospective that at last reveals the complete picture of Kainosho Tadaoto’s creative achievements!

Kainosho was a striking painter of nihonga in the Taisho era, the age with scent of decadence, and a leading figure behind the scenes of the chanbara (sword battle) films of the Showa era. Moreover, as a theater lover, was a hobbyist who also amused himself by acting. The exhibition updates the definition of Kainosho from “the mysterious painter” to “an extremely superior artist of complex and multifaceted characteristics.” Through various works and materials, the exhibition aims to reveal his unknown ability of crossing boundaries.

2. Triumphant return of Kainosho’s masterpiece in the early Showa era from the MET!

After the dissolution of “Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (The Association for the Creation of National Painting),” Kainosho found his place in the painting group “Shinjusha.” His ambitious piece Primavera (Haru) exhibited in Shinjusha’s commemorative first exhibition makes the triumphant return all the way from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. You can feel Kainosho’s paintings’ essence and overwhelming sense of presence from this must-see masterpiece.

3. The unknown story of Kainosho’s latter half of his life told by the numerous costumes that graced the silver screen of Showa era!

The exhibition shows jostling of precious costumes that played enormous role in the Toei’s jidaigeki (period drama) films at its golden age. With the main focus on the gorgeous costumes of the film series Tales of the Idle Vassal which Kainosho co-worked with the film star Ichikawa Utaemon, costumes which Kainosho have verified and proposed are displayed with posters and photographs. Also the costume that Kainosho designed for Ugetsu [Ugetsu monogatari] (directed by Mizoguchi Kenji and released in 1953) which was nominated for the Academy Award’s Best Costume Design (black-and-white film category), arrives across the sea from La Cinémathèque française, Paris.

1. PROLOGUE  Kainosho the Painter
2. CHAPTER 1  Kainosho the Stickler
3. CHAPTER 2  Kainosho the Performer
4. CHAPTER 3  Kainosho the Boundary Crosser
5. EPILOGUE  Kainosho the Wanderer