Self-Portrait with a Hat

In 1921, after six months in France, Koide returned to Osaka with new habits: wearing Western clothing and eating bread and coffee for breakfast. Those were signs of his heroic resolve to alter his lifestyle to a Western mode in order to understand and tackle oil painting head on. In September of 1923, Koide lived through the Great Kanto Earthquake. The reality of having his world collapse in a brief moment was an enormous shock to Koide. That horrific experience proved a turning point for him; his canvases, which had been stuffed with numerous subjects, were suddenly cleared and ordered. This painting, from August of the following year, is of almost monumental size compared with most of Koide's work, which tended to be small. From it we can see his self affirmation, his testimony that he was indeed a painter.