Saeki Yuzo went to Paris twice in his life. This work was painted after his first visit, when he was brought back to Japan by his family due to concerns about his tuberculosis. During a short stay in Japan, he experimented with depicting the Japanese climate and customs using oil paints. Traveling back and forth between Osaka, where his parents’ home was located, and Shimo-ochiai in Tokyo, where his studio was, he sought out appropriate scenery to paint. One of the things that captured his imagination were the sailing boats on Osaka’s Aji and Shirinashi rivers, which were close to his sister’s house. He painted about 20 paintings of the ships bringing charcoal and lumber from Shikoku. Compared to other works on the same subject, this one is characterized by a particularly dark and heavy sky. It seems like a reflection of the artist’s glum feelings of longing for Paris.
(KATADA Yuko)
Saeki Yuzo went to Paris twice in his life. This work was painted after his first visit, when he was brought back to Japan by his family due to concerns about his tuberculosis. During a short stay in Japan, he experimented with depicting the Japanese climate and customs using oil paints. Traveling back and forth between Osaka, where his parents’ home was located, and Shimo-ochiai in Tokyo, where his studio was, he sought out appropriate scenery to paint. One of the things that captured his imagination were the sailing boats on Osaka’s Aji and Shirinashi rivers, which were close to his sister’s house. He painted about 20 paintings of the ships bringing charcoal and lumber from Shikoku. Compared to other works on the same subject, this one is characterized by a particularly dark and heavy sky. It seems like a reflection of the artist’s glum feelings of longing for Paris.
(KATADA Yuko)