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Lot Essay
Umehara was fascinated by Mount Asama, an active volcano and tourist destination, and he painted it many times. Another example, lot 26, attests to the creative interpretation he gave to each variation.
A master of Japanese modern painting, Umehara's artistic sources may be traced to his childhood in Kyoto and to his early studies in France at the beginning of the twentieth century. His family manufactured white cloth for the kimono industry and Umehara watched as pattern designers and dyers energized the material with the bold designs and bright colors of traditional Japanese art. From these designs he learned clarity of form and color. From French painting and particularly from Renoir with whom he studied in 1908, Umehara learned the techniques of Western-style oil painting and the freedom to expand upon the conventional spatial arrangements of Japanese art.
A master of Japanese modern painting, Umehara's artistic sources may be traced to his childhood in Kyoto and to his early studies in France at the beginning of the twentieth century. His family manufactured white cloth for the kimono industry and Umehara watched as pattern designers and dyers energized the material with the bold designs and bright colors of traditional Japanese art. From these designs he learned clarity of form and color. From French painting and particularly from Renoir with whom he studied in 1908, Umehara learned the techniques of Western-style oil painting and the freedom to expand upon the conventional spatial arrangements of Japanese art.