Hirafuku Hyakusui and the 1930 Exposition of Japanese Art in Rome

Abstract

Focusing on major works of the painter Hirafuku Hyakusui, this paper attempts to reconsider the historical context and significance of the 1930 Rome Exhibition of Japanese Art (Esposizione d’Arte Giapponese) in which the painter participated with his paintings, the role he played, and his reflections on Japanese and Western paintings after his visits to European countries. Sharing characteristics of the Rin school, such as sophisticated decorative design and a dynamic large scale composition, his three paintings to be examined are Crane and Blue Waves (1926), Rough Coast (1926, with plovers), and Rough Coast (1929, with cormorants). The last was displayed in the 1930 Rome Exhibition and gifted to Mussolini.