A Self-Portrait Chase

Along with a self-portrait by SHIRATAKI Ikunosuke, This is one of the first known self-portraits in the Seiyo-ga course. KITA was known not only for his activities in the art world, but also for his stage scenery, including operas.

Self-portrait of AOKI Shigeru upon graduation from the Tokyo Fine Arts School. After graduation, AOKI became one of the leading painters of the Romantic tendency in Japan with works such as "Umi no sachi (Fruits of the Sea)" and "Wadagami no Iroko no Miya (Paradise under the Sea)".

While in school, AOKI Shigeru became passionate about philosophy, religion, mythology, and literature, and began to paint mythological subjects. This work, based on the Kojiki, was the result of this passion, and was exhibited at the 8th Hakuba-kai Exhibition in 1903, where it received the first Hakuba-kai Award.

Known as a creative printmaker (Sosaku-hanga printmaker) and art education activist, YAMAMOTO Kanae focused on printmaking while still in school. After graduating from the Tokyo Fine Arts School, he published the art and literature magazine "Hosun" and became an important figure in the printmaking world of the time.

Daughter of Frederick EASTLAKE (1856-1905), a linguist and English educator active in Japan. She was admitted to the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1903 as a special exception, which was then a boys' school, and further advanced to the graduate course and joined the Hakuba-kai.

OKAMOTO Ippei established his own style of Manga Manbun, a style of comic strips accompanied by explanatory text, and led the manga world in the Taisho and Showa periods. 1910, he married ONUKI Kano (OKAMOTO Kanoko), a poet, novelist, and Buddhist researcher. Their first son, born the following year, was OKAMOTO Taro, who later became one of the leading artists of the 20th century.

His real name was LI Shutong. During his studies in Japan from 1905 to 1911, he accepted Western culture, including art, music, and theater, and after returning to China, he had a great influence on the modernization of China. 1918, he suddenly entered the Buddhist school and contributed to the development of Buddhist exchanges between China and Japan.

This self-portrait was painted around the same time as his graduation work, "Nude Beauty" (Important Cultural Property, 1912, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). This work is a good example of YOROZU's characteristic pursuit of original pictorial expression that was quick to embrace Western artistic movements such as Post-Impressionism and Fauvism.

A Western-style painter active in the Kansai art world, particularly in the Nika-kai. He first enrolled in the Japanese painting course, but later switched to Seiyo-ga course. In this work, painted realistically against a background of vaguely floating Ukiyo-e prints, KOIDE's strong interest in composition and modeling, which he showed in later years, has not yet become apparent.

The first Korean to receive a government scholarship, he entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1909, and returned to Korea in 1915 after graduating from the Seiyo-ga course. He was the first Western-style painter in Korea, and also worked to improve the social status of painters by forming an art organization, the Shoga-kyōkai (Calligraphy and Painting Association). In this work, he wears the costume of a Korean bureaucrat.

He entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1911 as a Korean government-sponsored student, following KO Hui-dong. After returning to Korea, he became a member of the Shoga-kyōkai and continued his activities in Korea, including founding the Sakusei-kai in 1925. After that, he gave up painting and became a lumber merchant, but his whereabouts since then are unknown.

This is KIM KwanHo's graduation work. It depicts two women bathing in the evening by the riverside in his hometown of Pyongyang. This work was highly acclaimed, winning first place in the Seiyo-ga course and a special prize at the 10th Ministry of Education Art Exhibition (Bun-ten).

While in school, SAEKI studied under FUJISHIMA Takeji, and was inspired by Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" he saw at MUSHANOKOJI Saneatsu's residence, which deepened his yearning for Paris. After graduation, SAEKI and his family moved to France, where he had a chance encounter with Vlaminck and developed his own unique style of painting the streets of Paris with powerful brushstrokes.

While in school, NAKAMURA was a popular figure among students, so much so that NOMIYAMA Gyoji, two years his junior, called him "my superstar". After graduation in 1942, NAKAMURA left for the war, leaving behind his pregnant wife, Shimoko. His wife passed away shortly after giving birth, and NAKAMURA died in the war.

Born on Tanegashima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, HIDAKA entered Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1937. Due to the war, he graduated early in 1941, went to Manchuria, and died on Luzon Island in the Philippines in 1945. The artist's expression in the painting does not convey any sense of hope for a bright future.