From Friday, April 26 to Monday, May 6, 2019 (a public holiday), a special exhibition by the Ohara Museum of Art was held at “Yurin-so Villa” in the Bikan Historical Area.
The exhibition was titled “The Beautiful Green of the Green Palace—Millet, Cézanne, Makoto Aida, Rothko, and More.”
The venue, Yurin-so Villa, is also known as the “Green Palace” because it has a green-tiled roof.
“The Beautiful Green of the Green Palace” featured works from the collection of the Ohara Museum of Art, selected for their use of green.
During the exhibition, visitors had the rare opportunity to enter Yurin-so Villa, which is usually only viewable from the outside, and admire the Bikan Historical Area from a prime vantage point!
We visited the special exhibition.
Photography is normally prohibited inside Yurin-so Villa. Special permission to take photographs was granted for this occasion.
The information presented was accurate when this article was published in April 2019. Please note that it may differ from current information.
About Yurin-so Villa
Yurin-so Villa was the former secondary residence of the Ohara family, who had a major influence on Kurashiki’s economy and culture. It was built in 1928.
Usually, only its exterior can be seen. However, since 1997, it has been opened to the public for one to two weeks each spring and autumn as the venue for special exhibitions hosted by the Ohara Museum of Art.
The following article introduces its features and highlights in detail. Be sure to read it.
Here are some of its highlights:
- The superb view of the Bikan Historical Area from the second floor
- A fine example of Japanese-Western eclectic architecture
- Two gardens created by a pioneer of modern Japanese garden design
Yurin-so Villa appears in the Kosuke Kindaichi series by Seishi Yokomizo (?)
The mystery writer Seishi Yokomizo spent three years from 1945 in wartime evacuation in what is now Mabi, Kurashiki City. The detective Kosuke Kindaichi was also born in Mabi.
In the novel “Yoru Aruku” (“Walking at Night”), one of the Kosuke Kindaichi series, which Yokomizo began serializing while evacuated, a building called the “Green Palace” is the setting for the first case.
The description of the “Green Palace” is just like Yurin-so Villa!
It is thought highly likely that Seishi Yokomizo visited Yurin-so Villa while evacuated and used it as the model for the setting.
Yurin-so Villa’s green roof tiles
Kojima Torajiro, who gathered works that formed the foundation of the Ohara Museum of Art and was also involved in the design of Yurin-so Villa.
It is said that the green roof tiles of Yurin-so Villa were inspired by the Confucius Temple (Koshi-byo) that Torajiro saw in China.
Yakushiji Kazue, who designed Yurin-so Villa, also visited Lyon, a French textile town, and was deeply impressed by its beautiful scenery.
He is said to have been strongly interested in roof tiles, an important element of the landscape, as he wanted to bring beautiful streetscapes to Kurashiki, a textile town as well.
Ohara Magosaburo, founder of the Ohara Museum of Art and the person who commissioned the construction of Yurin-so Villa, is also said to have seen the green roof tiles of a Western-style mansion from a train window and visited the site to ask how they were made.
Unfortunately, he could not learn the manufacturing method from the mansion’s owner, so he commissioned custom tiles in Senshu, Osaka, a region renowned for its roof tiles.
The green tiles were completed after much trial and error. Their beautiful color was created by the passion of these three men.
Reference: Materials from the Ohara Museum of Art (2019)
A leaflet available at Yurin-so Villa points out places where you can get a good look at the tiles. Try walking around the building while checking it.
Some of the tiles are also on display, allowing you to see up close the beauty of the glaze covering their surfaces.
About “The Beautiful Green of the Green Palace—Millet, Cézanne, Makoto Aida, Rothko, and More”
The exhibition “The Beautiful Green of the Green Palace,” held during the beautiful season of fresh greenery, is all about green!
- The green of Yurin-so Villa’s roof
- The varied greens in the artworks
- The green of the garden
The exhibition lets you enjoy all of these greens at once.
Green flowers greet you as you enter the building.
Each room has its own distinctive character. Let’s take a look.
First-floor Western-style room: Green as a symbol
The following works are displayed in the first-floor Western-style room:
- Hisao Domoto, “Universe”
- Josef Albers, “Homage to the Square”
- Pablo Picasso, “The Flute Player”
- Chieko Oshie, “Echo”
When you see a rainbow, green is in the middle. It is a neutral color in terms of wavelength.
Josef Albers apparently aimed for universality by ensuring that “the painting represents nothing concrete.” “Homage to the Square,” a painting in which several squares are arranged in a regular pattern, is considered the pinnacle of the series that represents the artist’s work.
Chieko Oshie’s “Echo” is a pastel painting inspired by Kurashiki’s natural surroundings. It conveys the strength and sacredness of trees.
First-floor Japanese-style room: The green of plants
The first-floor Japanese-style room opens onto a lush green garden. The works displayed here depict the green of plants.
This is a feast for the eyes, where you can enjoy both the green of the actual garden and the green in the artworks.
- Jean-François Millet, “The Cliffs of Greville”
- Paul Cézanne, “Bathers”
- Takako Hojo, “Waiting Light -muison-so-”
- Makoto Aida, “Ai-chan’s Bonsai (Pine), in the Garden”
- Makoto Aida, “Ai-chan’s Bonsai (Pine)”
The first thing to catch your eye is likely Takako Hojo’s large oil painting.
She stayed in Kurashiki and drew inspiration from its natural surroundings. The semi-abstract trees tell of nature’s beauty.
In Millet’s painting, each blade of grass looks soft.
Cézanne depicts nude women bathing in the forest.
The work that kept startling visitors one after another was Aida Makoto’s “Ai-chan Bonsai.” A beautiful-girl figurine is combined with a bonsai, making it seem like a person and a tree at the same time. I imagine many people, myself included, would find it “creepy.”
Cézanne’s “Bathers” and Aida Makoto’s “Ai-chan Bonsai” were created 125 years apart and have completely different styles, but both take nature and women as their subjects.
It might be fun to explore how each work is viewed, and look for similarities and differences.
Second-floor Japanese-style room: Greenery and Water
The second floor mainly features works of greenery associated with water.
- Koie Makiko, “From the series ‘W’ Mi-2”
- Jean Fautrier, “Rain”
- Mark Rothko, “Untitled (Green on Green)”
- Fukuda Miran, “The Colors of Yurin-so Villa: Sangiri”
The exhibition begins with a photograph by Koie Makiko of plants reflected on the surface of the water, linking the first and second floors.
From a distance, Rothko’s work looks entirely black, but up close you can see that various shades of green have been layered over one another.
Displayed in the alcove without a frame, it could be viewed at leisure, without an acrylic panel in the way, allowing the brushwork and delicate colors to be appreciated.
Fukuda Miran’s work was created for Yurin-so Villa in 2002. It perfectly suits “The Green Beauty of the Green Palace,” expressing the green color of the roof tiles.
The view from the second floor is also especially recommended!
The Kurashiki River, which flows through the Bikan Historical Area, looks slightly green as it reflects the willows.
At my height (156 cm), I couldn’t see the river’s surface from the second floor, but the water-themed green works also have points of connection with the scenery around the Kurashiki River.
From the Writer
A special exhibition enveloped in green at Yurin-so Villa, known as the “Green Palace.”
The diverse works were connected by “green,” leading to some fascinating discoveries.
From modern French painters such as Cézanne and Millet to contemporary artists with a flair for humor, such as Fukuda Miran and Aida Makoto, I am once again amazed by the richness of the Ohara Museum of Art’s collection.
At the venue, I heard visitors say things like, “It was really good,” “I got to see a work I’d always wanted to see,” and “The history and vision of the Ohara Museum of Art are wonderful.”
It’s a beautiful season of fresh green leaves. After leaving Yurin-so Villa, I found myself wanting to look for all the shades of green in the Bikan Historical Area.
“The Green Beauty of the Green Palace: Millet, Cézanne, Aida Makoto, Rothko, and More” runs for 11 days. Along with the exhibition, the beautiful architecture and garden, as well as the views from the windows, are highly recommended.
Be sure to visit Yurin-so Villa.
This article draws on materials from the Ohara Museum of Art for “Yurin-so Villa, which appears in the Kosuke Kindaichi series by Seishi Yokomizo (?)” and “The Green Roof Tiles of Yurin-so Villa,” and on commentary by Ohara Museum of Art staff for “‘The Green Beauty of the Green Palace: Millet, Cézanne, Aida Makoto, Rothko, and More.’”
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