Studio: international art (15.1899)

Kawanabe Ki'osai

,________—--------------.......- - - decorating the panels of a

■Sfj ®Xj temple or mansion, now

^ dashing off rough colour

^TBg^ ^^5»T^ ^fef^?=C=.fi ■* ^ sketches at the price of a

' >>'7^^^™_i^^ ?l few cents the sneet>now

^----Ji^\^ > * A. wandering off into the

<T VnI (\\ ^0t<^^ff^Cl ^ country with some con-

-•-^GrT P—\ ypv^-^\^^.\L.i^^;^i3> genial spirit to enjoy life

'f'^^^^^J^^k'f }C\l-\ JgjS5' entirely after his own guise,

^grJ^fe^^-^^^^ -^^vg^""!^ ' and to take whatever

/^^'^ C^'^-^^'^^^* opportunity of turning an

v----—— " honest tempo chance might

,.. »( throw in his way. Like

^^l^flf^* Hokusai he held himself

iVjs« "-^H**<t38L aloof in his artistic life both

-d^VX ^ . ('^ W^^N^^33^1 from the theatre and the

^('^^T^^i] > ^^ji^^a'^ —■(^^^^^^^ Yoshiwara, and has given

^lO£i>-?^r<~-v~ ^\ if ««r ^j^VVii^^rt^^. us none °f those curious

^^^^j^^^^^^^-P <£A portraitures of actors and

^^^^^^^^^^^^3^T^%>i^C^ "^^-^L^T^^-^v^^ the principal stock-in-trade

■jr^ ^ /$a^^\ v V^^^^~^^^^^'^~~~^ of tne publishers of

/r^C"^^^^ coloured broadsides in his

-^ll&ll^>^ .^ft^^^W^^i^ jeCtS' m°Stly pdnted in

^•^"^'^XlA. »^g^1T ■ *—•—-/"^^O^^KX^-^" colours, on loose sheets, or

vOn ^ > Y^V-i*-^—-^ =^£==^J«cr'^ lM~ drawn and engraved as

*X^)(_j^T/: ' i——— 5 \ i^**1^ /^\ book illustrations, were

i^\^\i<^T)> ^~^~ \ { / 7 r*\ V|ry burlesque scenes of all

/ "i ) / A" - i kinds> realistic representa-

\n^--^^ i tions of a1nima11 u[e' andf

iSsgg&V 1 f( it^Y Nvj> more y' sketches of

"——--w^ ^ "2^r-\, *""™j»T?!^' landscape. We are told

C-^y "^J""^ ^ /( ;n j-^g memorial article
------------------------- " just referred to that—"It

KIOSAI'S LIFE-SCHOOL FROM A DRAWING BY KIOSAI ^ ^ ^ agg rf thirty_sJx

he first seized the oppor-

later works, show how practically he taught the tunity of a protracted sketching tour among the
lesson of direct observation to his pupils. But for mountains. He chose the time of early summer,
the rest, in landscapes and most things else, he as he said, because the blossoms would be bloom-
was content to adopt the conventions of his pre- ing and the nightingales singing, and with his
decessors ; and his originality was chiefly manifest favourite pupil Tomekichi passed through Musashi
in a riotous fancy that dwelt with especial delight in and Jashiu until he reached the picturesquely
the regions of the grotesque and gruesome. mountainous province of Shinano. So busy was
In his daily life he was essentially erratic and he with his brush on the way that he rarely
Bohemian sometimes working with marvellous travelled more than five and often only three ri
speed, sometimes lying idle for days ; but when a day. In Joshiu he sketched, among numerous
inclination or necessity led him to take his pencil views, the mountains of Akagi, Asama, and Miyogi.
in hand he was incapable of bad work. The firm Reaching Shinano, he found a feast of grand hills,
touch, the bold invention, and the vigorous com- as he describes it, enveloping him all round, like a
position were always there and came without effort, screen, and was bewildered by such a rich and
He appears to have accepted whatever commissions limitless display of landscape. He devoted his
fell into his hands—now drawing for the engravers chief attention to the mountains of the Manji-toge,
the sketches that appear in his many albums, now to Nunobiki-san, and the scenery of the Okubo

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