Summer Scene in Tamba

Gyoshu studied at Angado Gajuku, a private art school run by Fuko Matsumoto. He stood out by submitting works to Kojikai and Tatsumigakai in his teens. In 1914, he formed Sekiyokai with Shiko Imamura at the core. In 1917, he became a member of Saiko Inten. In search of new potentials in nihonga, he pioneered one after another new style and led the nihonga circles of the time.

Within his less than thirty-year-long career, Gyoshu changed styles over and over again. This painting was done when he was twenty-one years old at a time when he formed Sekiyokai with Seiju Omoda and others in hope of innovating nihonga and was strongly influenced by Shikou Imamura. The coloring is composed mainly of lapis and verditer with yellow added as the point. The touch is pointillist giving heed to the glistening summer sun. The composition is designed to provide a sense of depth from bottom to top and the houses and people are depicted in an unconstrained manner. Such features strongly demonstrate Rimpa-like decorativeness and the influence of Shiko’s free and enterprising style skillfully incorporating an Impressionistic expression of light. However, this painting is overflowing with Gyoshu’s original romantic temperament and youthful sensibility, presenting a unique world that does not end simply in following his precursors.