Tokyo's National Museum of Modern Art announced on Monday that a Kiyokata Kaburaki (1878-1972) painting that was thought to be lost for 44 years will feature in an exhibition from November.
The museum said that it had acquired Kaburaki's "Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town," a representative work of an artist that had a huge impact on Japanese modern art.
Measuring 173.5 centimeters by 74 centimeters, the piece depicts a noblewoman in a kimono and black haori coat standing in the Akashicho area of Tokyo's Chuo Ward, where the settlement for foreigners was located during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
Kaburaki received the Imperial Art Academy award at the Imperial Art Exhibition in 1927 for "Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town," which features an exquisite depiction of the subject's hair.
The whereabouts of the painting were unknown after an exhibition in 1975, but after conducting a search, the museum discovered that it was in private hands.
The National Museum of Modern Art bought "Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town" together with "Shintomi-cho Town" and "Hama-cho Gashi Zone" -- which were painted as a triptych in 1930 -- for 540 million yen in total.
The three paintings will be shown at the museum's "Special Display of Rediscovered Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town of Kaburaki Kiyokata" exhibition from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.
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