In this oil on canvas work by Japanese artist Seiji Tōgō (東郷青児), we see a sophisticated young Japanese woman wearing a stylish dark gray hat, long elbow-length black gloves and a cream-colored, collared dress with a flat black belt. She stands in front of a background consisting of geometric shapes. It is typical of his refined style of work, reflecting the artist's childhood in the capital of Japane and his acquaintance with European avant-garde artists. Togo’s pictures of women, with their soft coloring, became popular in post-war Japan, but the work shown here dates from the early thirties, before he had established the so-called "Togo style." It was from around the end of the 1920s that women in Western garb, known as "modern girls" (モダンガール or abbreviated as モガ aka "moga"), first made an appearance in Japan. Born in Kagoshima in 1897, Togo moved to Tokyo while he was still young and after graduating from Aoyama Gakuin high school, he studied art under Arishima Ikuma. In 1916, his first entry to the Nikaten (Second Division Society) Exhibition, a work in the Futurist style, was accepted and this caused quite a sensation. In 1921, he went to study in Europe where he came into contact with Duchamp and Tristan Tzara, he also visited Filippo Tommaso Marinetti of the Futurists in Italy and was made most welcome. Upon his return to Japan, he exhibited the works he had produced in Europe at the Nikaten Exhibition and was made a member of the Nika Society (of artists in Japan). After the war, he worked to reestablish the Nika Society and became its leader. The “pleasing beauty” of the woman and the flow of the picture (a style which became commonly known as “Seiji Beauties” or “paintings of beauties in the Seiji style”) has been described by some as “commonplace.” However, regardless of whether one likes this style of art or not, this painting remains a masterpiece of the artist's style that lingers in the memory of many.

婦人像 (Picture of Woman) by 東郷青児 (Seiji Tōgō, Japanese) - Oil on canvas / 1930-1935 - Iwami Art Museum (Masuda, Japan) #womeinart #oilpainting #art #JapaneseArt #TogoSeiji #SeijiTōgō #東郷青児 #SeijiTogo #artwork #JapaneseArtist #IwamiArtMuseum #島根県立石見美術館 #womensart #洋画 #modernart #二科会 #モダンガール #モガ #style

This beautiful 1915 painting by Japanese artist Okada Saburōsuke (岡田三郎助) mixes hints of French impressionism and traditional Nihonga (日本画) for a truly "east meets west" piece of art. It was exhibited in the ninth Bunten (文展) government-sponsored art exhibition in Japan. On the canvas, we see a young Japanese woman wearing a white kimono while relaxing on a Western-style bench, the light is soft and the shadows expressed in purple hues. The contrast between the white chair, the white kimono and the black of the model’s obi (wide belt) and dark hair is most striking. Born in Saga Prefecture (佐賀県), Okada came into contact with oil painting through the work of Hyakutake Kaneyuki (百武兼行) and decided that he wished to study Western art (洋画). He traveled to Tokyo where he studied under Soyama Sachihiko (曽山幸彦) and Horie Masaaki (堀江正章). An old friend from Saga, named Kume Keiichiro (久米 桂一郎), introduced him to Kuroda Seiki (黒田清輝) after the latter returned from France and he went to study at the Tenshin Dojo. He was one of the founder members of the Hakuba-kai (White Horse Society) and when the Western Painting Department was established at Tokyo School of Fine Arts he joined Fujishima Takeji (藤島武二) there as an assistant professor. In 1897, Okada traveled to France as the first student to be officially sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Along with Kuroda, he studied under French painter Raphäel Collin. In 1907, a few years after his return to Japan, Okada was selected to be a judge at the first Bunten (Ministry of Education Art Exhibition) where he worked with Mori Ogai (森 鷗外) and others, going on to become a central figure in the exhibition. In this painting, the method of showing a woman positioned against a colorful background of outdoor shrubbery was a specialty of his mentor Collin and this portrait shows us how faithfully Okada had mastered his teacher’s style by 1915.

黒き帯 (Black Obi) by 岡田三郎助 Okada Saburōsuke (Japanese) - Oil on canvas / 1915 - Iwami Art Museum (Masuda, Japan) #womeninart #oilpainting #art #帯 #JapaneseArt #artwork #白馬会 #JapaneseArtist #OkadaSaburosuke #島根県立石見美術館 #IwamiArtMuseum #岡田三郎助 #kimono #きもの #着物 #beauty #womensart #1910s #impressionism #洋画