DOI Heft:
No. 259 (October 1914)
DOI Artikel:Studio-talk
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21211#0081
Studio- Talk
"CHICKENS AND CHERRY-TREE "
BY KAVVABATA GYOKUSHO
(Imperial School of Art, Tokyo)
in various poses and groups by Katsukawa Shunsho
and by Utagawa Toyoharu were among them.
So far I have referred only to the works of our
ancient masters. But the paintings by the five
masters, Kano Hogai, Taki Watei, Kawasaki
Senko, Hashimoto Gaho, and Kawabata Gyokusho,
all of whom were very closely connected with the
art school, and who have died during the last
quarter of a century, stood no less prominent in
the collection. It must be acknowledged that to
the genius and untiring efforts of these artists we
owe in a great degree the development of painting
in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Especially interest-
ing were the Kwannon and Eagle by Kano Hogai
and Moonlight Landscape by Hashimoto Gaho.
The Kwannon has become famous throughout
Japan greatly by reason of its being Hogai's
76
zeppitsu, that is, the last work by the artist, whose
genius was discovered by Ernest Fenollosa and
became widely appreciated after his death. It has
also deservedly won its place by the excellent
effect the artist attained in the picture through his
untiring efforts and also by the wonderful re-
production of it a few years ago by Sugawara
Naonosuke in embroidery. We are told that
when Hogai once climbed Myogizan with art
students on a sketching tour and standing on the
top of a towering precipice saw the clouds pass
below him, he was deeply struck with the awe-
inspiring grandeur of the commanding position
where he stood and he remarked casually that it
would be a splendid spot to place an image
of Kwannon. The feeling of sublimity that such
a position gave to a mind so susceptible to the
power of Nature as Hogai's haunted his mind
until it finally impelled him to express that in-
spiration on silk in the painting in question
as the crowning labour of his life. How much he
had struggled with it can be seen by scores of
drawings he left behind, which show the numerous
BENZAITEN (PAINTING ON THE DOOR PANEL OF A
ZUSHI OR PORTABLE SHRINE)
(Imperial School of Art, Tokyo)
"CHICKENS AND CHERRY-TREE "
BY KAVVABATA GYOKUSHO
(Imperial School of Art, Tokyo)
in various poses and groups by Katsukawa Shunsho
and by Utagawa Toyoharu were among them.
So far I have referred only to the works of our
ancient masters. But the paintings by the five
masters, Kano Hogai, Taki Watei, Kawasaki
Senko, Hashimoto Gaho, and Kawabata Gyokusho,
all of whom were very closely connected with the
art school, and who have died during the last
quarter of a century, stood no less prominent in
the collection. It must be acknowledged that to
the genius and untiring efforts of these artists we
owe in a great degree the development of painting
in the Meiji era (1868-1912). Especially interest-
ing were the Kwannon and Eagle by Kano Hogai
and Moonlight Landscape by Hashimoto Gaho.
The Kwannon has become famous throughout
Japan greatly by reason of its being Hogai's
76
zeppitsu, that is, the last work by the artist, whose
genius was discovered by Ernest Fenollosa and
became widely appreciated after his death. It has
also deservedly won its place by the excellent
effect the artist attained in the picture through his
untiring efforts and also by the wonderful re-
production of it a few years ago by Sugawara
Naonosuke in embroidery. We are told that
when Hogai once climbed Myogizan with art
students on a sketching tour and standing on the
top of a towering precipice saw the clouds pass
below him, he was deeply struck with the awe-
inspiring grandeur of the commanding position
where he stood and he remarked casually that it
would be a splendid spot to place an image
of Kwannon. The feeling of sublimity that such
a position gave to a mind so susceptible to the
power of Nature as Hogai's haunted his mind
until it finally impelled him to express that in-
spiration on silk in the painting in question
as the crowning labour of his life. How much he
had struggled with it can be seen by scores of
drawings he left behind, which show the numerous
BENZAITEN (PAINTING ON THE DOOR PANEL OF A
ZUSHI OR PORTABLE SHRINE)
(Imperial School of Art, Tokyo)