Cat

Nakamura, like his colleague Fujita Tsuguji (1886-1968), favored the cat as an expressive subject. The present painting, executed in Paris in the early 1950s, is an example of the artist's folded paper technique. After layering the surface of the painting with successive applications of watercolor and gouache, Nakamura carefully folded, then smoothed and mounted the crumpled paper on a panel, creating a textured surface on which to finish his work.

Although Nakamura was recognized as a sculptor early in his career, having studied with the Western-style sculptor Yoshida Hakurei (1871-1942), painting took precedence for him. His work has been shown extensively throughout Europe, Japan and the United States, including exhibitions at the Andre Weil Gallery in Paris in 1953 and 1956, a retrospective at the Seibu Department Store, Ikebukuro, in Tokyo in 1967, at Nihon Gallery in Tokyo in 1969, and at the Matsuzakaya Department Store in Nagoya in 1971.