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Art/ Video story
Japan’s First Oil Painting Exhibition in 1874
15 August 2025 · Japan Annotations
What if Japan’s early oil-painting exhibitions took place in teahouses rather than museums? An 1874 advertising print introduces Aburae-jaya in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, where Western painting techniques met popular entertainment. Explore the work of the Goseda painters and a moment when unfamiliar artistic methods were being introduced to visitors outside formal galleries.


