安井曾太郎

Yasui Sōtarō was born in the Daikoku-chō neighborhood of Nakakyō-ku, Kyoto on May 17, 1888. His father ran a cotton wholesale business Yasui Shōten. The fifth son, Sōtarō attended ordinary elementary school, before progressing to the municipal commercial school. Intending to become a Yōga (Western-style) painter, he left after completing only one year of the regular curriculum, choosing instead to study pencil drawing and watercolor privately under Hirashimizu Ryōtarō, the school’s art teacher. In 1904, at the age of 16, he joined the Shōgoin Yōga Kenkyūjo (Shōgo Institute of Western Art) established by Asai Chū, who, along with Kanokogi Takeshirō, took over his instruction. Another student there, Umehara Ryūzaburō, would join him later at its successor school, the Kansai Bijutsuin (Kansai Art Institute). In April 1907, when the painter Tsuda Seifū left for France on a study trip, Yasui accompanied him. Only three oil paintings exist from prior to his departure for Europe as evidence of his progress up to this point: “Awataguchi Fūkei” 粟田口風景 (View of Awataguchi) (1905, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art) and two self-portraits (both 1906, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art and Tokyo National Museum, respectively). In particular, “Awataguchi Fūkei,” featuring one of the large camphor trees at the entrance of the Shōren-in temple, contains a skillful rendering of light. The view of the famous Kyoto landmark is little changed today. This and the self-portraits already reveal glimpses of his talent. Surviving croquis and drawings from the period also affirm his early skill. Confident in his abilities, to some extent at least, he set off. Arriving in Paris in June 1907, he immediately enrolled at the Académie Julian and studied under Jean-Paul Laurens. He turned 20 the following year while staying and working with Tsuda in Grez-sur-Loing, north-central France. In 1909, the two artists, together with the sculptor Fujikawa Yūzō, spent time in a village in the Auvergne region of central France. A product of this period, “Inaka no Tera” 田舎の寺 (Country Church and Graveyard) (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto), clearly shows the early impact of his French sojourn. The next year, he left the Académie Julian to study and work on his own, even spreading his wings to travel to Spain and Italy. By 1914, his health was beginning to suffer. With the outbreak of the First World War, he initially went to London and then embarked for home, returning to Kyoto in November with the 45 works he had created during his European stay. In October 1915, all but one of these works were exhibited as a special addendum to the Second Nika Exhibition, and he was nominated to join the group. He also took up teaching at the Kansai Bijutsuin, succeeding Kanokogi Takeshirō. After fully recovering his health, Yasui moved in May 1916 from Kyoto to what is now Mejiro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo. He took part in the Third Nika Exhibition (and continued to exhibit there every year until 1934). In 1917, he married Mizuno Hama. Their son Keiichirō was born in June 1923. Following the Great Kantō Earthquake in September, he went back to Kyoto for a while and held a solo exhibition there at the Yamamoto Gwasendo art supply store in 1925. Nevertheless, from his return to Japan up until 1929, he is thought to have languished in a creative slump, notwithstanding the signs of a new approach evident in works such as “Kyoto Kōgai” 京都郊外 (A Suburb of Kyoto) (1923, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo) produced in that city. The period, for him, can be thought of as a time of exploration. In 1929, at the 16th Nika Exhibition, he exhibited “Zazō” 座像 (Seated Lady) (Artizon Museum, Tokyo), depicting a female relative of the late General Nogi Maresuke. The work is said to mark the start of the “Yasui style.” As if the floodgates had opened, important works began to pour forth: for example, in portraiture, “Fujinzō” 婦人像 (Seated Woman) (1930, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto) and “Pōzu Seru Moderu” ポーズせるモデル (Model Posing) (1931, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto); in landscape, “Sotobō Fūkei” 外房風景 (Landscape of Sotobo) (1931, Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki) and “Oirase no Keiryū” 奥入瀬の渓流 (Oirase Stream) (1933, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo); and in still life, “Bara” 薔薇 (Roses) (1932, Artizon Museum, Tokyo) and others. These were exhibited at Nika exhibitions starting from the 17th session in 1930. In April 1933, when Gotō Shintarō of the publishing house Zauhō Kankōkai founded the Seikōkai (Seikō Society),Yasui joined along with Umehara Ryūzaburō and Sakamoto Hanjirō. During this period, the artist further developed his ability to convey the personalities of his subjects in works such as “Kin’yō” 金蓉 (Portrait of Chin-Jung) (1934, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), produced at the request of Marquis Hosokawa Moritatsu, “Tamamushi Sensei Zō” 玉蟲先生像 (Portrait of Tamamushi Sensei) (1934, Tohoku University Archives, Sendai), and “Honda Kōtarō Shōzōga” 本多光太郎肖像画 (Portrait of Honda Kōtarō) (1936, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai). In 1935, amid controversial changes at the Imperial Fine Arts Academy, Yasui was appointed a member. Due to the strong backlash aroused in the artistic community by the reorganization, Yasui felt compelled to resign from the Nika Association, a notable dissenter from the Academy’s Teiten exhibitions. Having established his own artistic style by now, Yasui was set to become one of the leaders of the Yōga world, along with Umehara Ryūzaburō. In 1936, he joined in founding the art society Issuikai and remained a committee member until his death. At the society’s first exhibition, his landscapes and portraits earned high praise. They included “Shōtoku no Ramabyō” 承徳の喇嘛廟 (Lamasery in Chengde) (1937, Eisei-Bunko Museum, Tokyo) and “Fukai Eigo-shi Zō” 深井英五氏像 (The Economist Fukai Eigo) (1937, Tokyo National Museum). He stayed active during the Second World War: both he and Umehara Ryūzaburō became professors at the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1944 and were named Imperial Artists in July of that year. While visiting Peking (Beijing) in the summer, he fell ill. He returned to Tokyo in March 1945 but immediately evacuated to Saitama Prefecture to escape the Allied bombing. Soon after the end of the war, in 1946, he served as a juror for the First Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition). He returned to his home in Shimo-Ochiai, Tokyo in 1947 and was fully recovered by the following year from the long illness that had threatened his sight at one point. In 1949, he moved to Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and settled in the former studio of the Nihonga painter Takeuchi Seihō. That June, when the Japan Artists Association was established, Yasui became its first president. Starting in January 1950, he created the cover illustrations for every issue of the magazine “Bungei Shunjū” until the year of his death. In 1951, at the 13th Issuikai Exhibition, he showed “Gashitsu nite” 画室にて (At the Studio) (Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki), a painting of his wife Hama set in his Yugawara studio. While many of his portraits were commissions, this and the previous year’s “Mago” 孫 (Granddaughter) (Ohara Museum of Art), depicting the daughter of his only son, are notable examples of portrayals of close relatives. In March 1952, he resigned his professorship at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and, on November 3, received the Order of Culture along with his lifelong “rival” Umehara Ryūzaburō. To commemorate the award, a duo exhibition of the artists was held at the Homma Museum of Art, Yamagata Prefecture, the following year. That October, “Yasui Sōtarō Jisen Ten” (Exhibition of Works Self-Selected by Yasui Sōtarō) was held at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura. In 1954, he traveled around Kyushu, visiting Sakamoto Hanjirō, before moving into a newly built house and studio in Yugawara in August. In December of the following year, while being treated at home for pneumonia, he died of cardiac arrest. His last work was “Aki no Shiroyama” 秋の城山 (Shiroyama in Autumn) (1955, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo). In spite of his final illness, the artist continued painting outdoors to complete “Aki no Shiroyama” in time for the annual exhibition of the year-end charity campaign of the Japan Artists Association—of which he was the founding president. It is no exaggeration to say that the work, with its clear grasp of subject matter and color tones, can symbolize the artist’s life and career. Along with Umehara, Yasui performed a major leadership role as one of the mainstays of the Yōga world. He created works that, through their pursuit of “realism” in pithy colors and forms, came to epitomize “Japanese-style oil painting.” Following a posthumous exhibition devoted to him in 1956, the Yasui Prize was established the following year to honor his achievements and with the aim of discovering and fostering new figurative painters. The award continued through to the 40th prize in 1997. Recipients have included Nomiyama Gyōji, Kamoi Rei, and Kinutani Kōji. (Yamano Hidetsugu / Translated by Ota So & Walter Hamilton) (Published online: 2024-03-06)