DOI Heft:
No. 166 (May 1915)
DOI Artikel:Harada, Jirō: The modern development of oil painting in Japan
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21212#0279
Oil Painting in Japan
“ SPRING IN THE NORTH COUNTRY
After the departure of Fontanesi, another Italian
artist named Ferritti, who happened to be in Japan,
was employed to fill the vacancy. Ferritti was by
no means the equal of Fontanesi, and the inferiority
of Ferretti’s art was at once recognised by the
pupils, who rose against him. He was succeeded
in 1881 by another Italian of the name of San
Giovanni, who taught for three years ; but he too
failed to obtain the same hold upon our pupils as
did the first Italian master. So untiring and
earnest, however, were Fontanesi’s disciples in the
art of their adoption, that
many artists in the
Japanese style felt their
influence and discarding
the traditional method
began to practise oil paint-
ing. A number of young
artists, who did not come
under the direct influence
of the Italian master went
abroad to pursue their
studies. Among them
may be mentioned Harada
Naojiro, Kawamura Kiyoo,
Goseda Hosho and
Yamamoto Hosui. So
great was the rush for
the new style of art that
certain persons of in-
fluence, such as Baron
Kuki, thought they saw
an imminent danger “seashore in snow’
threatening the national
art and began proclaiming
the urgent necessity of
preserving the national
characteristics in the fine
arts. This opposition
proved well-nigh fatal to
the adopted medium,
which was as. yet far from
being firmly established,
the art world in general
being very much in a shift-
ing condition. Alarmed at
the warning cry, Kawabata
Gyokusho, Araki Kwampo
and a few others flung
down their palettes and
forsaking canvas resorted
once more to silk and the
by soma kiichi traditional style of their
fathers.
Then the period known as the “ Dark Age ” in
the modern history of oil painting in Japan set in,
and was not soon to terminate. Kawamura Kiyoo,
who studied at Arenice, and Harada Naojiro, who
returned after a course of hard study in Germany,
were received with cold indifference. So hope-
lessly depressed, and so pessimistic some of the
oil painters grew, and so indignant were they at
the stubborn partiality of those who were in a
position to encourage art, that one of them, a
young oil painter, committed harakiri at his
S' -A>
MBwiaai
BY KOBAYASHI SHOKICHI
273
“ SPRING IN THE NORTH COUNTRY
After the departure of Fontanesi, another Italian
artist named Ferritti, who happened to be in Japan,
was employed to fill the vacancy. Ferritti was by
no means the equal of Fontanesi, and the inferiority
of Ferretti’s art was at once recognised by the
pupils, who rose against him. He was succeeded
in 1881 by another Italian of the name of San
Giovanni, who taught for three years ; but he too
failed to obtain the same hold upon our pupils as
did the first Italian master. So untiring and
earnest, however, were Fontanesi’s disciples in the
art of their adoption, that
many artists in the
Japanese style felt their
influence and discarding
the traditional method
began to practise oil paint-
ing. A number of young
artists, who did not come
under the direct influence
of the Italian master went
abroad to pursue their
studies. Among them
may be mentioned Harada
Naojiro, Kawamura Kiyoo,
Goseda Hosho and
Yamamoto Hosui. So
great was the rush for
the new style of art that
certain persons of in-
fluence, such as Baron
Kuki, thought they saw
an imminent danger “seashore in snow’
threatening the national
art and began proclaiming
the urgent necessity of
preserving the national
characteristics in the fine
arts. This opposition
proved well-nigh fatal to
the adopted medium,
which was as. yet far from
being firmly established,
the art world in general
being very much in a shift-
ing condition. Alarmed at
the warning cry, Kawabata
Gyokusho, Araki Kwampo
and a few others flung
down their palettes and
forsaking canvas resorted
once more to silk and the
by soma kiichi traditional style of their
fathers.
Then the period known as the “ Dark Age ” in
the modern history of oil painting in Japan set in,
and was not soon to terminate. Kawamura Kiyoo,
who studied at Arenice, and Harada Naojiro, who
returned after a course of hard study in Germany,
were received with cold indifference. So hope-
lessly depressed, and so pessimistic some of the
oil painters grew, and so indignant were they at
the stubborn partiality of those who were in a
position to encourage art, that one of them, a
young oil painter, committed harakiri at his
S' -A>
MBwiaai
BY KOBAYASHI SHOKICHI
273