Odake Etsudo (1868-1931)
Fashionable Young Beauty, c. 1910
Sealed: Etsudo
Hanging Scroll; ink and color on silk
47 5/8 x 15 ¼ inches (121 x 38.7 cm)
Box inscribed with authentication by Ryoji
A young beauty dressed in a simple monochrome kimono, her obi in a boldly patterned yet subtle design, seems destined for a formal occasion. Perhaps it is a memorial of some sort, holding as she does a lily in her hand. The open umbrella indicates a spring shower, and her fashionable hairstyle is called sokuhatsu, one often chosen as a symbol of the new, liberated woman.
Etsudo was born in Niigata Prefecture with the familiar name of Komataro. The eldest of three brothers, (the others being Odake Chikuha and Odake Kokkan), all three pursued careers in the art world. As a youth Etsudo went to Tokyo to study with Utagawa Kunimasa and Kobori Tomone. He later combined the styles of ukiyo-e and the Tosa school in his work. After a move to Osaka he became a member of the Osaka Art Association (Osaka Bijutsu Kai) and several other art organizations. In 1894 he received the bronze prize at the Toyama Kyoshin Society, and in 1900 he was the recipient of the silver prize at the Osaka Painters Association (Osaka Gakai).
After moving from Osaka back to Tokyo he studied the Shinga style painting of the Japan Art Institute (Nihon Bijutsuin) and became a member of the Southeast Painting Group (Tatsumi Gakai), an artists-run group located at Fukagawa in southeast Tokyo. He exhibited in the fifth, eighth, ninth and tenth Bunten exhibits and in the eighth Bunten (1914) his “Satsuki-goro” (Around May), a pair of 2-panel screens, brought forth the following critique from columnist Yano Ryukei in the October 30, 1914 issue of the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun:
“While his painting is skillful, he tries to show too much originality.
He should take a more serious approach to his art.”
Although the three brothers were active in various art circles, organizations and competitions, including Bunten and Teiten, their work was not accepted for the seventh Teiten (1913). In protest they organized Rakusen-ten (Exhibit of Rejected Works). Subsequently, similar exhibitions were held at the same time as the Teiten exhibit by other artists who were also critical of Teitens’ criteria for selection and its excessive popularization and commercialization both in Tokyo and Kansai. One brother, Chikuha, frustrated in his efforts to gain fame in the artistic world, ran for election to the House of Representatives in 1915 but lost. Although the Odake brothers continued to participate in later Bunten and Teiten exhibits, their stars slowly faded from the scene.
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