Studio: international art (64.1915)

Oil Painting in Japan

LANDSCAPE

for the Annual Art Exhibition of the Mombusho
(Department of Education) was organised in 1908
with a definite governmental cachet, and
it has a section for the European style
of painting. The hanging committee
for this section were chosen from among
the promoters of the Hakuba-kai and
the Taiheiyoga-kai, both of which were
then thriving societies. The works of
such artists as Kosugi Misei, Minami
Kunzo, Ishii Hakutei, Ishikawa Toraji,

Tsuji Nagatoshi, and Fujishima Takeji,
all of Tokyo; Teramatsu Kunitaro and
Kawai Shinzo, of Kyoto ; and Kato Seiji,
of Nagoya, have been highly awarded at
recent Mombusho Art Exhibitions.

However, there were some, as is
always the case, who found fault with
the Mombusho Art Committee. They
accused it of being too narrow and
conservative for the unhindered progress
of the European style of painting. Ac-
cordingly, some twenty-seven ambitious
artists, including Kimura Sohachi, Saito
Yori, Kishida Ryusei, Sanada Hisakichi,
and Matsumura Tatsumi, organised the
“Societe du Fusain,” which held its first
exhibition at the close of 1912 in the
Yomiuri Shimbura Building in Tokyo.

The paintings there exhibited were post-
impressionistic in style, and created
some stir in the art world of Japan inas-
much as they were the first things of the
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kind to be seen in Japan,
but the verdict of the critics
on the exhibition was far
from being unanimous.
The society’s membership
finally dwindled to seven-
teen ; their second exhi-
bition was held in the
spring of 1913, and shortly
afterwards the society was
disbanded.

Though the “ Societe du
Fusain” had such a brief
existence the movement it
inaugurated still goes on,
and is exercising con-
siderable influence. The
class of work associated
with it has already found
admission to recent ex-
hibitions of the Kofu-
kai and Taiheiyoga-kai, and is coming to be
looked upon much more seriously.

BY NAKAGAWA HACHIRO

BEFORE THE SHOWER

BY NAKAGAWA HACHIRO