Studio: international art (52.1911)

Studio- Talk

•'dragon" by hogai kano

( Owned by Mrs. Fenollosa )

starvation ; indeed, his life of sixty years was a life
of hardship and hunger. When he reached man-
hood, the whole country of Japan began to grow
disturbed under the name of the Grand Restora-
tion. In those days, the safety of one's life was
not assured; how then could art claim the general
protection ? All the artists threw away their draw-
ing brushes : Kano tried to get his living by selling
baskets and brooms. His wife, it is said, helped
him by her weaving at night : their lives were hard
almost without comparison. Following the advice
of Mr. Fujishima, he afterwards drew pictures, and
gave them to a dealer at Hikage Cho, Tokyo, to sell.
After three long years, he found that only one picture
had been sold, and so he gave the rest of them,
more than fifty, to Mr. Fujishima, who, by turns,
gave them away to his friends. I understand that
many of the pictures I saw at this exhibition were
those the people received from Mr. Fujishima even
without thanks; to-day they are their treasures.
Thus is the irony of life exemplified ! It might
be thought a piece of good fortune when he was
discovered by Prof. Fenollosa, whose critical eye
discerned Kano's unusual ability; he engaged him
for twelve yen a month. It is almost unbelievable
that such a small sum should have been accept-
able ; but it may have been the usual payment in
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those days, and the professor's friendship was more
to Kano than money itself. He received fifteen
yen afterwards when he was engaged by the Educa-
tional Department of the Government in 1884;
what a pity he could not support himself indepen-
dently by art alone! Social conditions began slowly
but surely to assume their former order of peace-
fulness, and a general appreciation of art was being
looked forward to when Kano died.

To look at some of the modern work is too
trying, mainly from the fact that it lacks, to use
the word of Zen Buddhism, the meaning of silence ;
it seems to me that some modern artists work
only to tax people's minds too much. As in
Nature we find peacefulness and silence, we derive
from it a feeling of comfort and restfulness ; and
from this we receive vigour and life. I think
this is what great art should be. Many modern
artists cannot place themselves in unison with their
art; in one word, they do not know how to follow
the law or michi that Mother Nature gladly evolves.
It is such a delight to examine those works of
Kano, as each picture is a very part of his own
real self: the only difference is the difference that

"yuima" (study) 1!y hogai kano