Cock and Woman

After moving to Tokyo in 1931, Tsuji studied oil painting at the Independent Institute of Art, before switching to sculpture, exhibiting works at the Nihon Bijutsuin Exhibition (“Inten”), and eventually becoming the youngest member of the Inten coterie in 1942. His realistic-looking wooden sculptures that approach their respective motifs with pungency have received high acclaim from such Inten heavyweights as Denchu Hiragushi. This work was realized by a method of carving directly into wood without making a prototype of clay. Charged with simple, forceful vital energy, it displays an exquisite harmony between the pronouncedly head-on design and the subject stirring idyllic poetical imagination.