| Though early in his career he focused on painting images of [[Edo period]] beauties, or [[geisha]], he is particularly known for a series of three large scale paintings featuring "modern beauties in domestic settings"<ref name=brown73>Brown. p73.</ref> produced in the late 1920s-1930. The women in his earlier works have been described as "doll-like,"<ref name=brown73/> but after marrying Tsuyuko, the eldest daughter of his painting teacher [[Nishiyama Suisho|Nishiyama Suishô]], around 1925-26, he began to paint more realistic and mature-looking women, basing his works more closely on live models. | | Though early in his career he focused on painting images of [[Edo period]] beauties, or [[geisha]], he is particularly known for a series of three large scale paintings featuring "modern beauties in domestic settings"<ref name=brown73>Brown. p73.</ref> produced in the late 1920s-1930. The women in his earlier works have been described as "doll-like,"<ref name=brown73/> but after marrying Tsuyuko, the eldest daughter of his painting teacher [[Nishiyama Suisho|Nishiyama Suishô]], around 1925-26, he began to paint more realistic and mature-looking women, basing his works more closely on live models. |
− | The first of these works, a four-panel [[byobu|folding screen]] shown at the 1926 Teiten ("Imperial Exhibition"), titled ''Piano'', depicts Daizaburô's wife in a red ''[[furisode]]'', playing a piano. The sheet music is for pieces by 19th century German composer Robert Schumann; a modern lamp stands in the background. In 1928, he showed a horizontal [[hanging scroll]] painting titled ''Amimono'' ("Knitting"), which depicted a young beauty sitting on a sofa, surrounded by a credenza, gold clock, chandelier, and other modern scenery elements. To build the scenes within which the actresses would model for the painting, Daizaburô often borrowed such objects from hotels and other modern spaces. | + | The first of these works, a four-panel [[byobu|folding screen]] shown at the 1926 Teiten ("Imperial Exhibition"), titled ''At the Piano'', depicts Daizaburô's wife in a red ''[[furisode]]'', playing a piano. The sheet music is for pieces by 19th century German composer Robert Schumann, and a modern lamp stands in the background; this piece is today in the collection of the [[Kyoto City Museum of Art]].<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, David Lurie, and Suzanne Gay, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 214.</ref> In 1928, he showed a horizontal [[hanging scroll]] painting titled ''Amimono'' ("Knitting"), which depicted a young beauty sitting on a sofa, surrounded by a credenza, gold clock, chandelier, and other modern scenery elements. To build the scenes within which the actresses would model for the painting, Daizaburô often borrowed such objects from hotels and other modern spaces. |
| The third in this series, titled simply ''Fujo'' ("Woman"), depicts the actress [[Irie Takako]] in a red ''furisode'' lounging on a light yellow-green chaise. The painting was shown at the 1930 Teiten, and is now in the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Along with several of Daizaburô's other works, it served as the inspiration for a series of dolls (complete with their own miniature furniture as in the painting), in what is called the ''Hakata ningyô'' ("Hakata doll") style, produced, presumably, in [[Hakata]]. | | The third in this series, titled simply ''Fujo'' ("Woman"), depicts the actress [[Irie Takako]] in a red ''furisode'' lounging on a light yellow-green chaise. The painting was shown at the 1930 Teiten, and is now in the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Along with several of Daizaburô's other works, it served as the inspiration for a series of dolls (complete with their own miniature furniture as in the painting), in what is called the ''Hakata ningyô'' ("Hakata doll") style, produced, presumably, in [[Hakata]]. |