OTHER WORKS
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Prayer 1889, oil on canvas, 74.0 by 53.0cm The overall colour is brown, but the way the artist expresses the texture of the white blouse demonstrates elaborate technique. Although the exact date of execution remains unknown, this is considered to have been painted during the period Kuroda copied Anatomical Chart and showed an interest in Rembrandt. Throughout his lifetime, there is hardly any sign of Kuroda having leaned towards anything religious. This image is no exception in that it does not reflect any religious sentiment. This is what might be meant by criticism that Kuroda's works are lacking in content. |
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Withered Field (Grez) 1891, oil on canvas, 49.3 by 65.0cm The village of Grez on the Loing River is surrounded by flat fields. Kuroda noted in a letter that the winter landscape was more picturesque than the summer. This village was frequently visited by Japanese artists after Kuroda. There are even cases such as ASAI Chu, who painted some of the finest masterpieces of his career in Grez. Kuroda was there during a period when many foreign artists staying in France came to this area in search of motifs for their pictures. |
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A Girl with Red Hair 1892, oil on canvas, 80.6 by 64.5cm. A girl is standing amidst budding bushes and trees with her back turned. Rather than the girl herself, the artist seems to have placed emphasis on how to effectively depict the sunlight shining on her red hair or the vivid lustre of the leaves. This is one of the most Impressionistic works Kuroda produced while he was in France. It was painted in Grez-sur-Loing. This painting was formerly owned by HAYASHI Tadamasa, who played a significant role in the vogue for Japonism in Europe in those days, and alludes to the friendship between Kuroda and Hayashi. |
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A Nap 1894, oil on canvas, 49.8 by 61.0cm After creating such works as Landscape of Honmoku, Yokohama, Kuroda moved to his country house in Kamakura and spent the summer there. This painting was done during his stay in Kamakura. Ever since his stay in Yokohama, KUME Keiichiro and OKADA Saburosuke came to visit Kuroda occasionally and together they would sketch. The blazing midsummer sunlight glowing from between the trees on the girl taking a nap on the grass is vividly captured in fine strokes of red and yellow. The works Kuroda executed during this summer go beyond pleinairism and demonstrate the strongest influence of Impressionism. |
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Sunbeams Falling through Leaves 1914, oil on canvas, 53.2 by 45.8cm The 8th Bunten Exhibition According to Kuroda's diary of 26 May 1914, "In the afternoon, I began painting a picture of Kimiko in the garden." He continued working on it until the beginning of June. It is a portrait of a young relative sitting with some flowers in her hands under the early summer sun in Kuroda's garden at his home in Hirakawacho. Although the colouring has become milder, it can be considered an extension or development of A Nap. |
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Flowering Field 1907-1915, oil on canvas, 126.5 by 181.2cm The 13th Hakuba-kai Exhibition This is the only large scale work Kuroda executed in the latter part of his career. Having begun making sketches during the Meiji era, he resumed working on it in 1915, but it was never completed. It is considered to be based on a painting by his teacher Raphael Collin, Three Beauties in the Field (Maeda Ikutoku-Kai), and is closest in style among Kuroda's entire ﾏuvre to Collin. It was from around this period that Kuroda got involved in various social activities and became very busy. |
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Woman Knitting c.1890, 62.5 by 47.5cm |
