Kayukawa Shinji

Dutch people having fun

Magical sight

Kayukawa Shinji ( Japanese 粥 川 仲 二 , born 1896 in Sakai ( Osaka Prefecture ), died 1949 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction during the Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

Kayukawa Shinji attended the Ōkura commercial school (大 倉 商業 学校, Ōsaka shōgyō gakkō) in Osaka, but broke his education and decided to become a painter. First he took lessons from the painter Yamaguchi Sōhei (山口 草 平; 1882–1962), but then went to Kyoto and studied under Tsuchida Bakusen . When the artists' association "Kokuga sōsaku kyōkai" (国画 創作 協会) came together in 1918 and opened their first exhibition, the picture "Lustful Dutchman" (紅毛 人 遊 興 図) was accepted by him. At the 3rd exhibition, however, his picture “Charter Ship” (人 買 船, Hitokaibune) was rejected. After that it went better again: he was on the 4th exhibition with the picture "Magical sight" (妖 影, Yōkei), on the 5th with the picture "Good old Nagasaki" (長崎 懐 古, Nagasaki Kaiko), on the 6. with the picture “View of Kitano on trade fair days” (北野 緑 日 所見; Kitano ennichi shoken), on the 7th with the picture “rest day” (休 日, Kyūjitsu) and “Spielgelüberzug u. a. ”(鏡 袋 な ど, Kagamibukuro nado).

One of the main themes was the Edo period with foreigners in Nagasaki, but also nymphs in the water (here with delight in detail: a lizard runs over the nymph's chest, a shell on the bank), as well as nudes that he portrayed in an unrealistic way . In 1924 he was made a candidate member (会 友, Kaiyū), two years later he was elected a member. The artists' association dissolved three years later, in 1928. In the same year the artists' association “Shinjusha” (新 樹 社) was founded, at their first exhibition the following year he showed the pictures “ Maiko von Nagasaki” (長崎 の 舞 妓, Nagasako no maiko), “Elephant comes by ship from abroad ”(象 舶来, Zō ​​hakurai) and“ Arrival of a Dutch ship ”(蘭 船 入 津; Ransen nyūshin) demonstrated his workforce. After Shinjusha dissolved after the 2nd exhibition, Kayukawa exhibited at the Nihon Bijutsuin exhibition series and died at the age of 52.

Remarks

1. ↑ Kayukawa liked to use terms from the Edo period for the title of pictures, and also created new ones.
2. ↑ With Kitano the great shrine in Kyōto Kitano Tenman-gū should be meant. The term fair here refers to the trade stalls after the actual Shinto fair .

literature

• National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Ed.): Kayukawa Shinji . In: Kyōto no Nihonga 1910–1930. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 1986. ISBN 4-87642-117-X .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kayukawa is the family name, Shinji the first name.