Muses: The Models Who Inspired Insho's Art

Before you go

The Domoto Insho Museum of Art was founded by Insho Domoto himself to keep his works from dispersing and to show them, opening in 1966; everything from the exterior and interiors down to chairs and doorknobs was designed by the painter. 2026 marks its 60th anniversary. This show, the second anniversary project, focuses on the female beauty he pursued all his life: 'koma-e' sketches submitted to magazines in his teens, Taisho-era fashionable pictures, traditional-beauty works from after he established himself as a Japanese-style painter, and postwar modern women painted with Cubist techniques — many-sided views of his muses across some 60 years.

• 'Takamine Hideko in Black' (1955), modelled on the actress Hideko Takamine

Booking

General ¥600 (¥480 for groups of 20+), high-school and university students ¥450 (¥360 groups), 65 and over ¥300 (¥240 groups, public ID required); free for junior-high and younger and disability-handbook holders (including one carer). Curator gallery talks (3 and 28 November, from 14:00, 2F gallery) need no booking but require an admission ticket.

Crowds

A run of over two months; closed Mondays (open Monday 23 November, a public holiday; closed Tuesday 24 November). Gallery talks at 14:00 on 3 and 28 November. The museum publishes no crowd information.

Good for

Anyone interested in Japanese-style painting, Insho Domoto or Showa-era art; anyone wanting to see the building itself (designed by Insho). The 8th open-air ikebana exhibition in the garden (15–18 October) is free and pairs well with a visit.

How it differs

Unlike the first anniversary show, 'Insho Builds a Museum' (7 July–23 September 2026), which traced the museum's founding, this second show focuses on figure painting. The museum itself is one of Insho's works: the building and interiors are worth seeing alongside the art. Compared with the large special exhibitions at the KYOCERA Museum of Art, this is a museum devoted to a single artist — compact, with lower admission (¥600 general).

The signature work 'Konohana-Sakuya-Hime' (1929) is shown together with its underdrawing, revealing what the goddess image was meant to convey. The postwar 'Eight Hours' (1951) takes working women as its subject with Cubist techniques; 'Takamine Hideko in Black' (1955) portrays the actress Hideko Takamine, painted at the 'Yama-no-Atelier' studio. In summer 2025 the museum's main building and the Yama-no-Atelier were registered as national tangible cultural properties; the atelier opens to the public on a limited basis on 18 October and 22 November.