Evening star., 1927-10-30
BY LEILA MECHLIS.

"A Arts Club. 20l7 l street. where
\ il will be on view for the next
fortnight It has been some
wears since an exhibition OF this sort
has been held in Washington. partly
because Japanese prints are becoming
more and more rare, and as the appre-
citation for them has increased III
,Japan. fewer good examples are sent
out of the country.
Il so happens that the present col
lection was gotten together by n Japa-
nese art lover, Mr.. Sho Nemoto, who.
away back in 1889. graduated from
our University of Vermont and has
always retained an affcctiunato regard
for America and Americans. After
his graduation Mr.. Nemoto, who was
making special study of govern
ments. went to South America in the
interest of his home government. and
later returned to Japan TO serve as Il
member of the japanese Parliament.
At the time of the great earthquake
and the fire in Toxic a good many art
treasures were destroyed. and that
great catastrophe determined Mr.. Ne
moto to disperse the greater part OF
his own collection; therefore, he care
fully selected and sent to a classmate
Of his who now resides near AieNan-
dria about 200 prints, suggesting that
they be shown and sold TO American
art lovers.
Mr.. Nemoto does not desire the col.
lection sold en- bloc, for it is his belief
that by distributing the prints in many
homes they will serve in themselves
to increase appreciation of japanese
art in this country. and thus. through
the sharing of a common ideal, bring
our people in closer touch with the
people of his nation.
Nan,nfn'S in SGnootn Mrc Whi+n
OF Oakcrest. Va. happens to be a
friend of Mrs. Frederick B. Coville.
wife of the president of the Arts Club.
and it is in this way that the Arts
Club has the distinction of making the
first showing.
OF the 200 prints included in the col
lection, only about onefourth are dis
played on the walls. The others are
shown in portfolios, owing to lack of
wall space. This affords the visitor,
however. opportunity for close and in
innate inspection and adds rather than
detracts from the pleasure of the ex-
hibiton.
The majority of the prints are by
Hiroshige, one Of the last but one of
the greatest of the school of Ukiyoye.
1t will be remembered that Hokusai
Q760.1S49l and Hiroshige Q797-1S5S)
were the foremost landscape artists of
Japan. 1t was they. indeed, who intro
duced and made popular the landscape
print, and it was the works of these
artists-prints brought by Dutch mer-
chants from Japan to Europe-which
strongly influenced the European and
later, through Whistler, our own land
scape school. Hiroshige's prints, in
turn, show more of Western influence
than Hokusais. and possibly for this
reason have found greatest favor in
the Western world. There is no ques.
ton of his power as a craftsman, his
understanding of the art of design and
his true sense of the pictorial. In all
Of his work he gives the essence of
the thing represented, which is the
embodiment of the Oriental conception
OF art.
Hiroshige is said to have shown
signs of latent talent when he was a
boy. His earliest instruction in paint.
ing was in the studio of an artist,
Rinsi, of the Kano school, At the age
OF fourteen he applied for admission
TO the school of Toyokuni, but, there
being no vacancy, he took Toyohiro as
as a master. with whom he remained
until 1929. The following year marked
the turning point in his career. He
was then commissioned by the govern
fnent, under which he held an official
position, to go to Kyoto and paint the
ceremony of presenting the horse"
which it was the custom Of the Shotgun
to send to the Emperor every year at
Kyoto. 1t was this journey in COM
pany with the party in charge of the
horses on the famous Tokaido-the
east road which runs along the coast
from Yedo (now Tokio) to Kyoto-
which made him resolve to become
landscape painter; and 1t was tha
sketches made on this trip which
later formed the now famous set Of
'rFifty-three Stations of the Tokaido."
Basil Stewart, in his monumental
work on Japanese Color Prints"
says that for three years thereafter
Hiroshige travelled throughout Japan
making landscape sketches, .'his
wife accompanying him on his trav-
els and defraying all expenses, for
which his official salary was quite in
adequate
On his reurn, in 1894, he completed
his sketches of the Takaido, which
were then published in album form
and in an edition Of 5000. They be-
come an immediate success, as land.
scape had never before in the history
OF Ckivove been SO treated. This first
edition, which is now very precious
and very rare, was produced under
his supervision and constitutes, in the
opinion of collectors, Hiroshiges most
famous work as a whole.
An interesting comparison between
the works of Hiroshige and Hokusai
IS given by Mr.. Stewart as follows:
''Hiroshige gives us the effect Of at
mosphere and mist, sunrise and sun
set, snow and rain, in his compositions
which Hokusai with his sharper and
more vigorous outline does not. The
The latter's scenes are full Of that
restless activity which reflects his
own untiring energy, an energy which
nothing could damp, while misfortune
merely spurred him to greater effort.
Hokusai also treats his subject from
a different standpoint from Hiro-
shige's. The former depicts the rela-