我的愛、徽宗（Emperor Huizong's, my favorite）

竹内栖鳳「小春」＊Indian Summer (Ko-haru) by Seiho (1927)

　我是徽宗的白猫…。うちは知る人ぞ知る、徽宗皇帝のもう一匹の猫の系譜を引く白猫どす。名高い「斑猫」の影に隠れて目立ちまへんけど、うちも見返り美猫どすえ。

　徽宗が描いたとされる白黒の猫は、日本の画家達に大きなインスピレーションを与えてきました。日本画の菱田春草、洋画の岸田劉生…どっちの猫もふくふくよう肥えた、福猫どすなあ。えっ、福猫は漱石のんみたいな黒猫を指すんどすか。アレうちとしたことが…

　菱田春草の白猫のやわらかで細密な毛描き、おだやかな威厳…これぞ、徽宗に迫る春草の魅力どす。ちなみに、白猫のおでこの黒ポチ、子猫のときに現れることが多いとか。

　Wo shi Huizong de bai mao（I am Seiho's white cat being from Huizong's). Though I am not known as well as that famous spotted cat by Seiho, I belong to a respected family tree of another cat painted by that emperor. What's more, I am a beauty looking back!

　Huizong's cat has inspired many painters such as HISHIDA Shunso and KISHIDA Ryusei. Both cats are fat enough to symbolize an amulet. Miau! the good-luck cat is a black one? I’ve told a lie, pardon!

　The fine hairlines and mild dignity are selling points of HISHIDA Shunso’s, which might be comparable to Huizong’s. By the way, the black dot on our fronts often appears in our childhood.

Cat attributed to Huizong, Song（google search）

白き猫(部分)　『菱田春草』朝日新聞社　
White Cat (detail)　by HISHIDA Shunso　(1901)

岸田劉生「猫図」　Cat by KISHIDA Ryusei (1926)　(google search)

近代日本を代表する洋画家の一人、岸田劉生の白猫は、日本画の技法で描かれています。デューラーを愛した洋画家が、なんで北宋の猫を日本画で？劉生は中国絵画へも深く傾倒してたんどす。愛娘、麗子の肖像にも、元代の寒山拾得にそっくりなんがありますえ。

Though KISHIDA Ryusei (1891-1929) was a Western-style painter, he painted this mysterious cat in Japanse style. Why did the Western-style painter who admired A. Durer paint a cat being from Song Dynasty in Japanse style? He had a great esteem for Chinese paintings also. He often portrayed his daughter Reiko by oils, sometimes like Hanshan and Shi De painted in Yüan dynasty.

(google search)

「立派な芸術は大抵見ているとシーンとしてくる。変に心を沈める力がある」（岸田劉生『美の本体』）近代の日本人、例えば白樺派の人々は、洋の東西を問わず、美しいものは美しい、と評価しました。北宋の徽宗の絵は、彼にとって、ドイツのデューラーの絵と同じくらいシーンとした絵どした。ご本人の絵はけっこうデロリとしてますけど。

Ryusei said, “The authentic artworks often have the power to calm down our minds mysteriously.” Not a few modern Japanese estimated beautiful things both in the East and the West. Huizong’ s paintings were as beautiful and silent as those of Durer for him. Ryusei himself pursued the mysterious paingting with strong taste.

今度は、うちを他の白猫とではなく、栖鳳せんせの斑猫と比べてみておくれやす。まるでお頭と尾っぽだけ引っくり返したみたいどすやろ。せんせは一つの素材を追究し始めたら、裏返してみたり、色を違えたり、色んな角度からとことん描くお方どした。同じ年に描かれたこの二匹の狐もそう。それぞれにおぼろ月と三日月に照らされて、手を取り合って踊ってるみたい。うちもあの斑猫と見返りあってるんどす。これぞ竹内流の白猫…

Now would you compare me not with other white cats but with Seiho’ s spotted one? Do you find us mirror-reversed images? Maestro Seiho often painted one motif many times, from various angles, in various colours. Here are two foxes painted in the same year like mirror-revesed images…under the crescent or the hazy moon, they look as if they were dancing. We, the spotted cat and I also are looking back at each other beyond time and space. This is the white cat in Seiho’s style!

Foxes paintd by Seiho (detail) (1928, respectively)

ちょっと話は飛びますけど、栖鳳せんせの「アレ夕立に」の着物の柄になっている芙蓉…。芙蓉は言うまでもなく美人の象徴どすけど、徽宗の「芙蓉図」(下図) の影も落ちてるんと違うやろか。清楚にして儚い一日花は、中国や日本の文人を魅了しました。み仏の花、蓮になぞらえられ、牡丹とおなじく富貴の華と呼ばれ…。

Anyway, the pattern of cotton roses on that maiko’s kimono in Oh, Rain…of course the cotton rose is a symbol of beauty, but I suppose that Seiho was conscious of Huizong’s Cotton roses. This neat and clean one day flower has fascinated both Chinese and Japanese writers and artists. They compared the flower to the lotus, Buddhist flower, or the peony, a symbol of wealth.

Cotton roses by Huizong

Oh, Rain by Seiho


覚えておいでどすか。せんせがまだ十代のときに、画塾の絵手本として描いた芙蓉、そこに誇らしげな署名がなされていたことを。せんせがこの野心作の着物の柄に悩んではったとき、若き日の希望の花、芙蓉が胸をよぎったんかもしれへん。それに、ここだけの話…栖鳳せんせの初恋のお相手の名は、小春。芙蓉みたいにきれえな舞妓さんやったんやて。

Do you remember that Maestro had painted a peony as an example of the private painting school and had signed it proudly in his teenth? When he could not decide the floral pattern in Oh, Rain, one of his ambitious paintings, did the flower of the hope in his youth come to his mind? …And just between us, I've heard that his first love was a beautiful maiko like a cotton rose, whose name was Ko-haru (Indian summer).

Cotton rose by Seiho


p.s. snowdropが見た初めての展覧会はこちらだったかもしれません。↓

The first exhibition that snowdrop visited might have been this one.↓


「猫」『中村貞以展』（1981年の図録）
Nakamura Teii' s Cat in the catalogue published in 1981


（つづく＊To be continued）
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