The paintings produced by artists associated with the movement were realist in style, ensuring their political messages could be easily understood. Many focused on the unjust treatment of the Japanese people, both by the government and the US forces. A good example of this is Ikeda Tatsuo’s painting 10,000 Count, 1954 which depicted a Japanese fishing boat that had been radiated by fallout from a thermonuclear bomb test conducted by the Americans at Bikini Atoll. Other paintings documented the enforced land grabs by the government to build bases for the US military.
Artists associated with reportage painting are Nakamura Hiroshi, Ikeda Tatsuo, Yamashita Kikuji and Ishii Shigeo.