Image: Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama
The Museum of Art, Ehime will present ‘Collection Exhibition III: From Painting to Mass Media: Masamu Yanase and Hiroshi Manabe’s Challenges’ from 10 October to 13 December 2026. The exhibition will be held in Permanent Exhibition Rooms 1 and 2 on the second floor of the museum’s main building.
Focusing on Masamu Yanase (1900–1945) and Hiroshi Manabe (1932–2000), the exhibition draws on the museum’s collection of their graphic-media works. Both artists began their careers in oil painting before moving to manga, seeking a more direct means of reaching the public. The presentation examines their shared use of sharp social satire and their subsequent divergent paths: Yanase returned to oil painting, while Manabe expanded into illustration.
Works by Yanase include ‘Cliff and Grass’ (1921), ‘Report from the Bottom’ (1922), ‘A Fight on a Snail’s Horn, Forgetting What Is Underfoot’ (1930), ‘Getting Along on the Surface’ (1934), ‘Portrait of K’ (1934) and ‘Mask’ (1936). Manabe’s works include ‘Interior with a Dead Horse’ (1955), ‘Six Calamities: Drought’ (1956), ‘Bed and Cross/Eureka’ (1958), ‘Zoo/Eureka’ (1959), and ‘Illustrated Insect Book/Central Koronsha: Moth’ (1976).
The exhibition’s graphics were created by the design office Smells good company, based in Shikokuchuo and Matsuyama.
