Men and women with similar faces and similar poses gather in the sand dunes. Kokuryo Tsunero painted many “sandscapes,” but in this work tree stumps and broken branches are scattered across the ground, creating an atmosphere of desolation. It is reminiscent of the sandy landscapes near the Yangtze River delta in China, where Kokuryo was dispatched as a soldier. In other words, it is reminiscent of the scars of war. As for the young people, they neither look at each nor do they seem to converse. Kokuryo appears to be projecting on them the youths he would have seen involved in the student movements at the end of the 1960s, when he was teaching. The sense of isolation even within a group, which is palpable here, was a theme he pursued for many years.
(MINAMISHIMA Ko)
Men and women with similar faces and similar poses gather in the sand dunes. Kokuryo Tsunero painted many “sandscapes,” but in this work tree stumps and broken branches are scattered across the ground, creating an atmosphere of desolation. It is reminiscent of the sandy landscapes near the Yangtze River delta in China, where Kokuryo was dispatched as a soldier. In other words, it is reminiscent of the scars of war. As for the young people, they neither look at each nor do they seem to converse. Kokuryo appears to be projecting on them the youths he would have seen involved in the student movements at the end of the 1960s, when he was teaching. The sense of isolation even within a group, which is palpable here, was a theme he pursued for many years.
(MINAMISHIMA Ko)