Horii Kōha 1897-1990
Yuku natsu (Departing Summer) 1932
Two-panel screen: ink and color on silk
75 ½ x 78 ¾ inches (192 x 200cm)
Published:
Nittenshi Hensan Iinkai, Nittenshi 10 Teitenhen 5 (Tokyo: Nitten, 1983), p. 341.
A native of Kyoto, Horii Kōha studied painting at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts and the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting. After graduating in 1918, he continued his training under Kikuchi Keigetsu. While still a student, his figure painting was accepted at the 1915 Bunten. Thereafter he became a regular participant in the government exhibitions, receiving the highest award in 1928 and 1929 and an appointment as a judge at the 1934 Teiten. Kōha’s Taishō-period works reveal a penchant for dramatic, emotional themes reflecting the romantic tenet of the time, as exemplified by Thunder (Raimei), 1917, included in this collection. His 1921 Teiten submission titled Itan no onna (Heretic Woman) portrayed an enigmatic Edo-period woman holding a large cross, a secret follower of forbidden foreign religion. The other-worldly quality which permeated his Taishō works gradually disappeared as he largely aligned himself with the more orthodox bijinga (paintings of beautiful women) during the 1930s. After the war, Kōha often exhibited in the Nitten government exhibitions and remained an active member of the Kyoto painting circle.
At the 1931 Teiten, Kōha showed Kajitsu yūgi (Playing on a Summer Day), a depiction of two women in Western dress engaged in a game of golf in a flower-covered field. Although an idealized image of utmost elegance, the subject hinted at the athletic pursuits of modern Japanese women. In contrast, the following year, in Departing Summer, a submission to the 1932 Teiten, Kōha portrayed two kimono-clad young women quietly sitting on a Western-style white bench. With flawless skin and long black hair, and devoid of emotional expression, the women represent traditional Japanese feminine beauty. The subtle elements of Western fashion as seen in the ringed finger of the woman in a yellow kimono and in the light brown umbrella leaning against the bench had been firmly integrated into the everyday life of Japanese women by the 1930s. The classicizing figure style achieved in Departing Summer with its combination of pure color, immaculate line, and exquisite details exemplifies Kōha’s early Shōwa oeuvre.
Kōha’s works are in the collection of Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art and The Tokushima Modern Art Museum and the Honolulu Museum of Art, among others.
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