Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan

The Saint Louis Art Museum presents an exhibition following Japan's rise as a military power through the Russo-Japanese war.

Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan will showcase extraordinary visual material documenting Japan's rise as a military power in East Asia, starting with the Meiji Restoration in 1868, then depicting events of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), two wars between Japan and its imperial neighbors China and Russia.

The exhibition focuses on the confidence that Japan gained from its victories against these two nations through a wide variety of vividly illustrated artistic works: paintings on folding screens and hanging scrolls, drawings and sketchbooks, color woodblock prints, lithographs, stereographs, illustrated books and magazines, postcards, trade cards, game boards, textiles, and other materials.

The exhibition is possible due to the generous gift of 1,357 Japanese prints and related works of art given to the Saint Louis Art Museum in 2010 by local donors, Charles and Rosalyn Lowenhaupt.

Conflicts of Interest is organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum and curated by Philip Hu, associate curator-in-charge of Asian art, in collaboration with Rhiannon Paget, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Japanese Art. Conflicts of Interest will be on view in the Main Exhibition Galleries from October 16, 2016—January 8, 2017.