Kamoshita Chōko (1890-1967)
Rōgi (Elderly geisha), 1936
Signed: Shōwa heishi shigurezuki Chōko ga
Sealed: Chōko
Two-panel screen: ink and color on silk (originally mounted as scrolls)
h. 50 3/8 x w.100.1 inches (128 x 128 cm)
Exhibited:
Shōwa Eleventh-Year Bunten, 1936
Provenance:
Hosokawa Rikizō Collection
Meguro Gajōen Museum of Art
Two retired geisha, elegantly attired, are having a quiet visit. One peruses her songbook, perhaps contemplating what she might like to play, as the samisen waits nearby. Her lovely red brocade songbook case likely also holds the bachi (pick) for her instrument. Her companion is preparing her pipe for a leisurely smoke. A small aubergine silk purse lined in a soft blue provides the tobacco while the simple wooden tray holds a ceramic bowl, with charcoal already glowing, and nearby a matching receptacle for the ashes.
Bijinga (paintings of beautiful women) by tradition celebrates the feminine ideal as embodied in women at the prime of their lives. During the Taishō period, however, the changes in Japanese women’s social status affected this fundamental bijinga premise. Younger artists pushed its boundary with their truthful depictions of working women and the elderly. Their approach was often criticized as “vulgar” not only for their choice of unidealized subjects but also for their style, influenced by the realistic techniques of Western oil painting. Created a decade after the end of the Taishō period, Chōko’s Rōgi reveals both the legacy of Taishō humanism and the classicizing trend of early Shōwa nihonga. Geisha, one of the most prominent subjects in the bijinga genre, is here represented by two women whose active careers as geisha have been long over. Although the signs of aging on the women’s faces are clearly visible, Chōko tempers his realism with pristine lines and sophisticated color schemes. Achieving a perfect balance between realism and idealization, he places the two figures in abstract space and imbues them with a sense of quiet dignity. Originally exhibited as a pair of hanging scrolls at the 1936 Bunten, the ladies can be appreciated independently and also together as an exquisitely balanced composition.
Born in Tokyo, Chōko studied yamatoe under Matsumoto Fūko and became a figure specialist. When he was only seventeen, he received the third place award at the first Bunten exhibition in 1907. During the Taishō and early Shōwa periods, he was a frequent participant in the government exhibitions with paintings of historical figures and orthodox bijin. He began illustrating books in the late 1930s and after the war achieved a reputation as an accomplished illustrator of popular historical novels. Rōgi is one of the most significant works by Chōko for its naturalistic yet elegant portrayal of contemporary, older women.
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