Shunyo-kai art society ( Japanese: 春陽会, romanized: Shun'yōkai, lit. 'Spring Sun Society'), [1] is a Japanese art society founded in 1922 by the Western-style ( yōga) artists from the painting department of Nihon Bijutsuin (English: Japan Visual Arts Academy). [2] As of 2021, they have some 200 members. They annually hold a large scale exhibition at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. [3]
The Shunyo-kai art society started in 1922, after a group of Nihon Bijutsuin art students rebelled against the lessons and wanted to focus on the Western-style (yōga). [4] It emerged as the third yōga art society, and competed against the Teikoku Bijutsuin (the Imperial Fine Arts Academy), and the Nika Association. [4] The founding group members from Nihon Bijutsuin include Gen’ichirō Adachi, Noboru Hasegawa, Yamamoto Kanae, Misai Kosugi, Hakuyō Kurata, Morita Tsunetomo, and Ryūzaburō Umehara; [4] and the founding guest members include Ishii Tsuruzō, Keishi Imazeki, Ryūsei Kishida, Shōhachi Kimura, Sadao Tsubaki, Kazumasa Nakagawa, Shōzō Yamazaki, and Tetsugorō Yorozu. [4]