1885‐1966
Kawabata Ryushi was born in Wakayama Prefecture.
He initially learned how to paint in western style,
but later turned to Japanese style paintings and entered Musei-kai, a Japanese art organization.
Since 1915, he has released great works based on a free and bold style of painting, mainly for the Inten Exhibitions.
He started to push through this bold, large frame, style of painting in 1928
and subsequently established a new art organization, Seiryu-sha, in 1929.
This organization advocated the establishment of sturdy art and it led him to develop his unique art perspective.
1934 168.2×168.5 cm
The word aizen can refer to sexual passion or carnal desire, but here one sees the tender love of a couple. It shows an instant wherein a brace of mandarin ducks are visible amid the deep blue of the pond and red of the maple leaves.
It is an important work that harmonizes ornamentation with realism in a wondrous fashion.
1940 166.6×115.0 cm
The painting is an excellent work that is brilliantly and elegantly executed and does full justice to the title. Ryushi is a singularly unique artist in that he turned from western-style painting to Japanese-style painting after visiting America at the age of 28. It is truly characteristic of the artist to depict an arrangement of peonies in a bamboo basket on a large canvas.
