Study about Figure-paintings by TAKEUCHI Seiho
1994 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 45-55
Details
1994 Volume 45 Issue 2 Pages 45-55
Seiho painted three famous figure-paintings in his life. "Dancing to the tune" (1909), "Posing for the first time" (1913) and "Day Laborer" (1917). I started my study with "Cherry Viewing" (=a skeleton looking back to cherry blossoms falling, 1897) and mainly study about "Dancing heavenly maid" (Only idea, Cealing-painting of the gate, Higashi-Honganji temple, 1910-15). He was interested in human-frame and body, before 1897. He visited Paris Exposition Universal 1900, and looked around the art-expositions fulled with nude-paintings and nude-sculptures. He was deeply impressed in nude-arts. When he was requested to paint the ceiling, 1910, he decided to paint female-nudes. He investigated old-type heavenly maid in Japanese paintings and on the other hand he skeched real nude-models day after day. Finaly he failed the ceiling-painting without two trial productions. Seiho painted the lion from his sketches at Antwerp zoo. It was very real from traditional style, and was the first-prize at Art Contest 1901. Analogically saying, he wanted to paint real nude-shape from real nude models. There is the pattern extremely similar in "Lion" and "Heavenly maid". He failed it by the gaps between Japan and Europe. It is necessary to study in the future.
