"Girls Full of Dreams" 1952 This is a commemorative work in which Shinsui established his own unique group portrait style. The faces of the girls and their sailor uniforms each have a subtlety of expression and have been executed separately, while the totality produces a clear beauty. The girl in the foreground with her hair in plaits is modeled upon Shinsui's own daughter, Yukiji ASAOKA, who became famous as an actress earlyon. Ito Shinsui: Born in Tokyo in 1898. As a child, he began working at a print shop as a printer and continued to do so while studying under Kaburaki Kiyokata when he was 13. He later worked on illustrations and woodblock prints. He was invited to exhibit at the Bunten Exhibition when he was only 17. After being invited to the Tokyo Expo Peace Commemoration in 1922, he painted portraits of beautiful women in a sweet, sensual style. While taking active part in the Teiten and Bunten exhibitions, he formed Seikinkai, a artist's club. He established a strong position in beautiful portraits of women with his exceptionally expressive and refined depiction. Copyright of all the pictures in this Web site belongs to the artists or the Adachi Museum of Art