Okada Saburosuke Atelier

A Painter's Studio Brought Home to Saga

The Okada Saburosuke Atelier (岡田三郎助アトリエ) is a Western-style painter's studio of about 1908 in Jonai, Saga City, Saga Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on June 29, 2022 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a timber building, mostly single-storey with a partial upper floor, roofed in sheet iron, with a building area of 115 square metres; extended in the late Taisho period and moved in 2018; registration number 41-0127.

A Tokyo Studio Moved to Saga Castle

The Okada Saburosuke Atelier is the studio of the Western-style painter Okada Saburosuke, moved to the grounds of Saga Castle; it consists of the atelier and the Women's Institute of Western Painting (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Saga Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, Okada lived in what is now Ebisu, Shibuya, Tokyo, from 1908 until 1939, and the studio was built beside his house in about 1908. The institute was added in the Taisho period. After his death the building passed to the painter Tsuji Hisashi and his family, and Saga Prefecture moved and restored it next to the prefectural museum, opening it on April 1, 2018.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes the many windows that give an even light, and calls it a Meiji studio that became a central salon of the art world and a rare early school for women painters in oils; it was registered as a model of design. The museum says it is believed to be the oldest surviving studio of a modern Western-style painter in Japan that keeps its original form.

What to Look For

According to the museum, the building has three rooms, the studio of 53.14 square metres, a reception room and the institute classroom of 39.66 square metres, and displays some of Okada's belongings, including his easels.

Visiting

According to the Saga Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, the atelier can be visited free of charge during the museum's opening hours.