Studio: international art (55.1912)

Studio-Talk

might be such as to cause no small commotion
at home by upsetting the established order of
things. But that fear, I must confess, was mingled
with a strange thrill that comes from the expectation
of something quite unexpected.

However, I was extremely gratified to note that
what we consider to be the best qualities in our art
were, in most cases, appreciated, though not always
to the fullest extent. It seemed to me that the
critics approved of pictures whenever they saw in
them a beautiful composition with a pleasing
harmony of decorative and representative functions
—one of the striking features of our painting. They
also appreciated the effective use of blank spaces,
as well as the grace and strength of brush strokes.
It was upon these grounds that the judges took
seriously into consideration Wild Ducks under the
Winter Moon, by I mao Keinen ; Ducklings, by Kato
Eishu; Evening in the Cow-Shed, by Takahashi

Ryou; A Puppet Show, by Uyemura Shoen; A
Noble's Garden in Spring (which was bought
for the National Gallery at Rome), by Kikuchi
Hobun; The Evening Snow, by Shoda Kakuyu; and
A Court Noble on a Visit, by Otake Chikuha. We
are glad that such a picture as Evening in the
Harbour, by Tokuda Rinsai, should obtain the
approval of the Dowager Queen of Italy. And it
is not difficult for us to understand why A Long
Day, by Sakakibara Shiho, should be purchased
by the Department of Education of the Italian
Government for its art gallery, or After the Rain,
by Eguchi Hoshu, should be included among the
candidates for a prize. However, it was less easy
for some of us to conceive why other pictures, such
as An Ainu Village by Moonlight, by Kawamura
Manshu, which was bought for the King of Italy,
or Anchor Up, by Aoyama Suiko, should have
appealed to them so much. Some of these draw-
ings seemed to have departed largely from the

“a noble’s garden in spring
72

BY HOBUN KIKUCHI