Old Mendicant

Nakahara Teijiro became a member of the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute) the year he produced this work and exhibited another masterpiece, Young Caucasion, the following year. Unfortunately, he died in 1921 when he was only 32.

Nakahara Teijiro at first sought to become a painter. He was deeply moved, however, by the work of Ogiwara Morie, who had just returned from Europe, and after becoming familiar with Rodin’s works through Ogiwara, he awakend to the art of sculpture. After Ogiwara’s death, Teijiro made up his mind to become a sculptor, and he enrolled in the carving and modeling division of the institute of the Taiheiyogakai. In 1916, however, he changed his affiliation to the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute), where with Ishii Tsuruzo and others he spent his days in study. For this work, Teijiro asked an old tramp who was wandering near the Yanaka cemetery to pose for him and produced the work in a studio he borrowed from Sato Chozan, a wood carver and one of his friends at the Nihon Bijutsuin. The word beggar in the title referes to a priest who goes about asking for alms. It is said the old man shown here was born to a noble family and had once lived in luxury, but that his profligacy had reduced him to poverty. The weathered face has taken the form of an idealized image that had fermented in the artist’s mind, and the idea of constructing the work with planes promoted by Rodin has been realized magnificently within the tactile feel and the strong, solid forms unfettered by detail. Teijiro continued working on this sculpture right up to the time of the autumn Inten exhibition, and he is said to have hurriedly asked Sato Chozan and two more friends to pitch in and remove the plaster. (Writer : Rie Yokoyama Source : Selected Masterpieces from The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music: Grand Opening Exhibition, The University Art Museum, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, 1999)