Listening to the Lotus

Exhibited in the 1936 Bunten (Ministry of Education Art Exhibition). It is said that lotus flowers make a sound as they open and that provided the inspiration for this work in which Meiji has fused an elegant atmosphere with a modern touch. It is one of HASHIMOTO Meiji’s earlier works and in it, a single lotus bud is depicted on the left edge of the painting while the main subject is two woman waiting for the moment it opens. In addition motifs comprising of the straight lines of the chairs and the patterns of the women’s kimono, the two human figures are positioned so that they cross each other in line with the diagonals of the picture. This geometric composition combines with the cold colors and white base, to produce a cool atmosphere. The freshness of the morning air and the tension of the waiting women are beautifully expressed.
Born in Hamada city in Shimane Prefecture, HASHIMOTO Meiji moved to Tokyo in 1926 where he studied under MATSUOKA Eikyu at the Tokyo Fine Arts School. In 1929, while he was still a student, his work was selected for the Teiten (Imperial Art Exhibition) for the first time and subsequent to this, he showed his work regularly at the Teiten and Shin Bunten (New Ministry of Education Art Exhibition), establishing himself as a talented Japanese-style painter. In 1940 he was placed in charge of the copying of wall paintings at Horyuji temple. After the World war Ⅱ, he was one of the founders of the Sozo Bijutsu (Creative Art) group, but he left it a year later and exhibited his work in the in the Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition). After his ‘Red Chair’ (currently in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) that was exhibited in the 7th Nitten, he established the ‘Hashimoto style’, consisting of thick lines and clear colors, producing numerous large-scale paintings of people.