Japan Art Academy

The Japan Art Academy was founded in 1907 as the Fine Arts Reviewing Committee (Bijutsu Shinsa Iinkai) of the Ministry of Education. It was intended to provide quality standards and a venue for art exhibitions in late Meiji period Japan. The first of the organization's annual exhibitions, called the Bunten, was held in 1907. In 1919 the Imperial Fine Arts Academy (Teikoku Bijutsu-in) was established by imperial decree, first headed by Mori Ōgai. Upon establishment of the Imperial Arts Academy, the Fine Arts Reviewing Committee was discontinued and assimilated into the new organization, with the Bunten exhibition accordingly renamed the Teiten. After a number of structural changes were made to the organization in response to criticism of its relevance and politics, it was eventually reorganized into the Imperial Art Academy (帝国芸術院, Teikoku Geijutsuin) in 1937, After the end of World War II, the dissolution of the Empire of Japan, and the start of the American occupation of Japan, the Imperial Art Academy was restructured as the Japan Art Academy (日本芸術院, Nihon Geijutsuin). Its annual exhibition was renamed the starting from the 1946 editions (spring and fall, to make up for the lack of an exhibition in 1945), abbreviated as Nitten (日展). In 1958, there was further re-organization whereby the Japan Fine Arts Academy became a solely academic and consultative body, and the organization of the Nitten annual exhibition was handled by a separate private company, the non-profit corporation Nitten (社団法人日展, Shadan Hōjin Nitten). ==Membership==

The Japan Art Academy consists of a maximum of 120 members, who are appointed for life. The Academy's membership is divided into the categories as follows. Section I: Fine Arts • Painting (since 2022) • Nihonga or Japanese-style Painting (until 2022) • Yōga or European-style Painting (until 2022) • Sculpture • Crafts • Calligraphy • Architecture and Design (since 2022) • Architecture (until 2022) • Photography and Video Arts (since 2022) Section II: Literature • Novels and Playwright • Poetry • Critics and Foreign Literature • Manga (since 2022) Section III: Music, Drama, and Dance • Nōgaku • Kabuki • Bunraku • Hōgaku or Traditional Japanese Music • Yōgaku or Western Classical Music • Dance • Drama • Film, including Television and Anime (since 2022) ==List of leaders==

• Mori Ōgai (1919–1922) • Kuroda Seiki (1922–1924) • (1924–1931) • (1931–1935) • (1937–1947) • (1948–1979) • (1979–1990) • (1990–2004) • Shumon Miura (2004–2014) • Kuroi Senji (2014–2020) • (2020–present) ==Nitten==

The claims to be the largest combined art exhibition of its kind in the world, attracting a great number of fans and art critics. The exhibition consists five art categories: Nihonga and Western Style Painting, Sculpture, Crafts and Calligraphy. During each exhibition, works of the great masters are shown alongside works of the new but talented artists. For ninety-nine years the exhibition (under its various names) was held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum (東京都美術館, Tōkyō-to Bijutsukan) in Ueno, but from the hundredth year in 2007 the exhibition venue was changed to the National Art Center Tokyo (国立新美術館, Kokuritsu Shin-bijutsukan) in Roppongi. ==References==