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Lot Essay
Artists were invited to submit appropriate paintings for the 1940 exhibition, which was intended to glorify Japanese militarism and nationalism. Shimei, who specialized in paintings of beautiful women, obviously ignored the theme entirely. He shows instead a middle-aged woman who appears to have stepped outside on a clear, moonlit night to see off a guest at her gate. She pauses too look up at the moon.
Shimei moved to Tokyo in 1940 and became a student of the Nihonga painter Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878-1973) at the age of twenty-one in 1913. He lived most of his life in the small town of Nishinomiya, between Kobe and Osaka, and specialized in Nihonga paintings of traditional beauties. He showed his work in all of the major goverment-sponsored national exhibitions, namely the Bunten and Teiten. His first submission to a Teiten was in 1928 at the age of thirty-six, relatively late for an artist of that time; his entry was awarded "Special Mention" but his teacher, Kiyokata, would not allow him to accept the prize (it would have made him exempt from the jury process in future shows). After the war Shimei himself became a judge for Nitten exhibitions. Shimei also worked as an illustrator for publications such as Nagata Osada's Seishun no yume (Youthful dream). In 1958 his students organized themselves as the Akemikai group, and Shimei exhibited with them. That same year he became an art critic. In the 1960s and '70s he received a number of prestigious awards for his painting from the Ministry of Education and the Japan Art Academy.
Shimei moved to Tokyo in 1940 and became a student of the Nihonga painter Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878-1973) at the age of twenty-one in 1913. He lived most of his life in the small town of Nishinomiya, between Kobe and Osaka, and specialized in Nihonga paintings of traditional beauties. He showed his work in all of the major goverment-sponsored national exhibitions, namely the Bunten and Teiten. His first submission to a Teiten was in 1928 at the age of thirty-six, relatively late for an artist of that time; his entry was awarded "Special Mention" but his teacher, Kiyokata, would not allow him to accept the prize (it would have made him exempt from the jury process in future shows). After the war Shimei himself became a judge for Nitten exhibitions. Shimei also worked as an illustrator for publications such as Nagata Osada's Seishun no yume (Youthful dream). In 1958 his students organized themselves as the Akemikai group, and Shimei exhibited with them. That same year he became an art critic. In the 1960s and '70s he received a number of prestigious awards for his painting from the Ministry of Education and the Japan Art Academy.