2025 Volume 57 Issue 1 Pages 169-176
From 1925 to 1930, Nichi-Futsu Geijutsu-sha (lit. The Franco-Japan Fine Arts Company) held, or in some case contributed to, exhibitions of French paintings, sculptures, and crafts throughout Japan. The company expanded the range of its activities in accordance with the company’s policy statement of the “promotion and improvement of general aesthetic taste.” Exhibitions in provincial cities were part of such activities, and in addition to annual exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka, more than 20 exhibitions were held in more than 10 provincial cities. In the Hokuriku area, exhibitions were held in Kanazawa in 1925 and in Kanazawa, Takaoka, and Toyama from 1929 to 1930 in the form of a tour that terminated in Sapporo. This paper provides details of the exhibitions at Kanazawa and Takaoka, including their exhibit contents, side activities, initial event proposals by local influential men, censorship of lewd paintings and sculptures by the local police, and the public reception of the exhibitions as described in newspaper reports. This study also seeks to identify features common to these three exhibitions, together with the distinctive points of each exhibition.
