Former Prime Minister Keido (Kiyoura Keigo) (study)
奎堂先生 小下図
- Birth Year
- 1885
- Death Year
- 1977
- Date
- 1942
- Technique, Material, Format
- conte, ink and pencil on paper
- Dimension
- sheet: 39.6 x 27.6 cm
- Category
- Watercolor or Drawing by Japanese Artist
- Inventory Number
- 87-DRJ-001-03
These 15 sketches show politician Kiyoura Keigo, who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Japan. The museum also holds the completed work and a preparatory study of similar size, allowing for detailed comparison. The completed portrait shows Kiyoura standing in traditional Japanese attire holding a cane. However, these sketches of him seated, wearing Western-style formal clothes, and variously wearing or holding his hat reveal the extent of the artist’s explorations of alternative approaches. Additionally, there are sketches of the subject’s face at angles not depicted in the final work, his hands in different poses, his neck emerging from his collar and his wrinkles on his forehead. While the final work, painted just months before Kiyoura’s death, presents him in a dignified light, the sketches hint at his playful side.
(HIBINO Miyon)
*You can see other studies.