International studio (50.1913)

Studio-Talk


“spring landscape.” by kodama kwatei

he found peace and contentment in the simple life
of the country. When one of his friends was trying
to get him nominated for the post of Court artist,
a position much coveted by artists, Kwatei re-
monstrated with him, pointing out to him the
triviality of worldly fame and position. When Dr.
Takahashi proposed to erect a monument for the
artist, he strongly protested against the proposal,
and advocated the turning over of any fund there
might be to a public school for its further equip-
ment. He was kind and generous. At the time
of our last war, he supported many a needy family
by freely giving them his drawings.
In Kwatei’s pictures, it is the quality we generally
term kihin, or dignity, so essential especially in
Nanga, that appeals to his admirers, rather than his
technique, though he seems to have acquired a
masterful use of the brush and possessed a rare
talent for the preparation and use of colours. His

simplicity and uprightness may be seen by the fact
that until he finished a drawing he would never
open the folded paper containing money ac-
companying the request for a picture. Here it may
be explained that in approaching an artist for a
picture, it is customary in Japan to present a suit-
able amount of money folded in a sheet of white
paper, not as a remuneration for the artist nor the
price of the picture,but as a token of gratitude for
the favour, and it should be accompanied by a
piece of silk to paint on. It was Kwatei’s idea that
the money was not his own until he had drawn the
requested picture, and he never appropriated it to
himself until then.

There were some good works exhibited at the


“landscape” by kodama kwatei
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