Fujishima Takeji was a driving force in Western-style painting in Japan from about 1900 to his death in 1943. He also helped train the next generation of artists at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He probed the question of what oil paintings by Japanese artists should be and created works that made decisive use of the characteristics of Western techniques and materials.
This painting, which dates from 1902, is a classic example from the period known as Meiji Romanticism, when he was trying to express feelings transcending time and space. He combined these motifs based on eighth-century Buddhist statues, paintings, and Shosoin treasures that had captured his heart during a visit to Nara the year before. The woman standing beneath a paulownia tree in bloom is wearing Nara-period clothing and carrying a kugo, an ancient type of harp. Since her weight is on her right leg and her left knee is thrust somewhat forward, her robust body forms a gentle S from the head down. This pose, known as contrapposto, originated in ancient Greece. Fujishima has combined a realistic portrayal of a woman with a sense of yearning for two ancient worlds, East and West. The gold background intensifies the painting’s narrative quality. Nostalgia for the Nara period, when Western culture flowed in via the Silk Road and the culture of Japan’s classic period bloomed: this work has the power to make the viewer share the artist’s feelings. When he showed it at the Hakubakai exhibition, the Symbolist poet Kambara Ariake responded immediately, singing this work’s praises beautifully.