Studio: international art (49.1910)

Contemporary Japanese Painting

For nearly twenty
years or so has the
artistic world of Japan
been struggling be-
tween these two oppos-
ing currents, with the
result that, for a time,
everything was thrown
into a state of chaos,
and that nobody knew
how and where the
matter would ulti-
mately settle itself.
While Old - School
paintings, executed as
they are after the old
familiar canons, are
comparatively free
from undue eccen-
tricity and grotesque- -
ness, to say nothing of
their perfect adapta-
bility as decorations
for native houses, they
are, on the other hand,
liable to fall into for-
malism or mannerism.
Ten years ago, or a
little earlier, there still
survived in the Old
School a few of what
might be called great
masters; but, at pre-
sent, those who then
passed for painters of
only secondary class
occupy the seats of
first-grade artists. The
apostles of the classic
schools, in defiance of
the attitude taken up
by the advocates of a
new style, seemed
averse to anything
fresh and novel, and
contented themselves
with putting out tame
and convent i o na 1
pieces of work.

Meanwhile the New
School rose steadily to
eminence, a rise due
partly to the encour-
aging sympathy of the

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