This exhibition is the first retrospective in twenty-five years of Koide Narashige (1887 – 1931), one of the leading Japanese Western-style painters of the modern era, and a native of Osaka. 󠄀After graduating from Tokyo school of Fine Arts and making his debut in the art world with his submission of Mr. N's Family at the Nika Exhibition, Koide went on to explore oil painting as a Japanese painter until his death at the age of 43, producing many still life and female nude masterpieces. 󠄀He became famous for his female nudes, as shown by his sobriquet "Rafu no Narashige" (Narashige of the nudes), and the group of works produced over a period of about five years after moving to the city of Ashiya in 1926 in particular elevated nudes of Japanese women to his own distinctive kind of beauty of form. 󠄀This exhibition zeroes in once more on the charm and appeal of Koide's oil paintings, presenting his achievements as a painter from his early period until his final years, including representative works from each era. 󠄀It also presents his multifaceted talents as exhibited in sketches, paintings on glass, book designs, illustrations, and writings.