After returning from France, Yasui Sotaro found himself unable to paint as he wished, due to the differences in landscape, light, models, and the social context of art. After fifteen years of struggle, he achieved what came to be called the Yasui style: clean lines, lively palette, and effective use of black to highlight colors. That style began to bloom in about 1929 in his paintings of the human figure and soon appeared in his still lifes. This rose-scented painting of roses in an Imari vase, against a lacquer black background, is a quintessential work from that early period.