Studio-Talk

TOKYO.—Among the
unique features in
the mural decora-
tions of old Japan-
ese palaces and temples are
the painted wooden doors in
the corridors which separate
the different sets of apart-
ments. The doors are in-
variably made from carefully
selected planks of sugi or
cedar, of enormous width and
beautiful grain, and are hence
called sugi-to, or cedar doors.
Some very fine examples exist
in various parts of Japan, such
as the one with the painting
of a lion, commonly called
happo - nerami-no-shishi (lion
staring in eight directions),
because it stares straight at the
beholder wherever he may
stand, in the Nijo Palace,
Kyoto, by Kano Tan-yu,
another in the same palace
with herons in the rain, by
Kano Naonobu, and the one
with sparrows and bamboo by
Kano Eitoku, in the Nagoya
Castle; doors such as these

CEDAR DOORS AT BARON FUJITA’S NEW MANSION IN OSAKA, WITH PAINTING
BY MOCHIZUKI GYOKKEI


Another artist whose death has in the midst of
the turmoil of the war passed almost unheeded
is Rene Billotte, who died in Paris early in Novem-
ber at the age of sixty-eight. He suffered from
heart disease, and the emotions aroused by the
great struggle now going on proved too much for
him. This talented landscape painter was an
habitue of Northern France, and rendered with
ir-emarkable veracity and feeling the delicate greys
■of its atmosphere and waters. From time to time
he also visited Holland, and some of the pictures
he painted in the neighbourhood of Dordrecht are
real masterpieces. Billotte was very modest about
his own doings, and his sincerity was patent to
every one. His independent means allowed him
to work solely for the pleasure of it, and he was
under no necessity to pander to the tastes of
others. A nephew of the great
Fromentin he acquired from
him not only a great respect
for art but also a general cul¬
ture which was quite remark¬
able. H. F.

are not easy to be forgotten by those whose fortune
it has been to visit these famous buildings. Those
who visited the Japan-British Exhibition, held in
London four years ago, will remember how effec-
tive such a door was in the model Japanese house,
which now stands in the garden of Prince Arthur
of Connaught at Bagshot (see p. 234).
This custom of using decorated sugi-to still exists
in Japan, d'hose at Aoyama Palace, built for the
late Empress Dowager, have attracted a good deal
of attention in recent times. There were eleven
cedar panels, and an equal number of the leading
artists of the day were chosen to paint on both
sides of each door. The artists selected were
Matsumoto Fuko, a talented Tokyo artist whose
speciality is genre subjects; Terazaki Kogyo, pro-

229