Keiō University College Student

Kōno Misao is better known in France than in Japan. During the1920s and 1930s, he established himself as a respected peintre mondain (society painter) in Paris. Unlike other Japanese artists who lived in Paris and painted its streets and landscapes, Kōno’s preferred subjects were nudes, harlequins, city residents, and the portraits of prominent personages and celebrities. He was recognized as an “Art Deco” painter whose works represented the contemporary spirit and urban culture of Paris with a decorative flare. To be accepted in Parisian high society and enjoy such artistic success was a rare accomplishment for a Japanese painter at the time. Along with Leonard Foujita (Fujita Tsuguharu, 1886-1968), whose painting style he admired, Kōno left a distinct mark in the European art scene of the early twentieth century. 

Born to a wealthy family who owned a successful mineral oil factory in Tokyo, Kōno grew up enjoying luxury and modernity—his family house was even equipped with a telephone, still rare in Japan at the time. After attending Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine for three years, he decided to pursue Western-style painting and enrolled in Tokyo University of Fine Arts in 1922. In the following year, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo. Unable to concentrate on his studies in the devastated city, Kōno left Japan for France in 1924 and remained there for the next sixteen years. In Paris, Kōno met Fujita, who had been residing there since 1913, and developed a close friendship with the painter, calling him affectionately “Oyaji san” (my old man). Kōno sent works to Salon d”Autumn starting in 1924, and later to Salon des Independants and Salon des Tuileries. His affable, urbane personality helped him overcome racial and cultural barriers and integrate himself into French society. Members of the elite class and their wives commissioned Kōno to paint their portraits. In particular, his dreamy portraits of women in what the enthusiastic critics described as “Japanese color” were highly valued by the collectors. In 1930, the Georges Bernheim Gallery in Paris held Kōno’s first one-person show, at which the French government purchased his work titled The Night of Masquerade. Moreover, of the twenty-five paintings in the show, nine were designated as “not for sale” and listed the names of the owners. 

While achieving success in France, Kōno also maintained his ties with Japan, submitting his paintings to the Nikakai exhibition in Tokyo between 1928 and 1936. In 1937, he joined the newly formed Issuikai and began exhibiting with the group while also entering his paintings in Shin Bunten exhibitions. In 1940, the deteriorating political situation in Europe forced Kōno to return to Japan, and during the war he went to China to serve as an official war painter. Post-war Japan saw Kōno resume the role of a society painter in Tokyo, creating portraits of well-known Japanese actresses. In 1954, he won the Popularity Prize at the Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition. Kōno remained active at the Issuikai exhibition and government-sponsored Nitten until his death at the age of seventy-nine. 

In this small oil painting, a young woman stands in front of a western-style brick building. According to the artist’s inscription on the back of the canvas, the location is Keiō University and the building its renowned library. Wearing a red scarf to accent her dark coat and large shoulder bag the woman poses in a relaxed manner. She is likely a student at this illustrious university―Keiō began admitting women in 1946— and her unaffected pose and assured gaze project her self-confidence. 

Naturalistic with a sketch-like quality, the style of this work is quite different from Kono’s “Art Deco” figure paintings of coquettish women. The theme of this work is neither the latest ladies’ fashion nor bewitching feminine sensuality. Rather, the image represents the emergence of a new generation of university-educated young women in post-war Japan, their intelligence and opportunity for learning appropriately symbolized by the library in the background. The artist’s inscription makes clear that the painting was produced to grace a magazine cover. As early as 1939, while still living in Paris, Kōno’s illustrations appeared on the cover of Fujin gahō (Illustrated Women’s Gazette), a popular Japanese magazine for women. He is also known to have illustrated other magazines including Shufu no tomo (Housewive’s Companion) for which he provided monthly covers for three years beginning in 1954. The refreshingly unpretentious style of Keiō University sheds light on an important but little discussed aspect of Kōno’s postwar career and helps us broaden our understanding of his art.

In Japan, many of Kōno’s works can be found in the collection of Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, and Hiroshima Museum of Art.

Click on any image for an enlarged view.