Torao Makino "Mt. Hakone in spring"

Torao Makino was born in 1890 in the village of Takagi (now called Takada City) in Niigata Prefecture. As an elementary school student, Makino was a boy who hated to lose and who worked hard at school. A very unruly lad, he was often involved in fights. He was an expert kite flyer, particularly when it came to avoiding electric wires.

The was very inventive. Once, he and fellow students at school decided to produce a circular. Makino landed responsibility for doing the cover and illustrations. Young Torao carefully cut out the colored parts from a cheap picture book, dipped red, yellow, green and purple colored paper in water, rubbed the papers, and extracted the colors he needed to finish his paintings. By the time he had advanced to the third grade of the middle school run by Jugo Sugiura, he was aspiring to become a painter. His enthusiasm took him to see Seiki Kuroda, watercolors in hand, to seek the master's instruction. Seiki Kuroda was playing a leading role in Western-style painting at that time.

In 1908, Makino entered Tokyo Art School and studied under Kotaro Nagahara, Eisaku Wada and Takeji Fujishima. Fujishima was known to be a very stern professor. However, the professor had no harsh words for the young student. In 1912, while in the fourth grade of the art school, Makino visited Chosi in Chiba Prefecture to do some sketching with his fellow student. Based on these, he painted two works and sent them to the Bun-ten. Both were selected. The work by Takeji Fujishima, by Hanjiro Sakamoto, and by Sintaro Yamashita were also selected, but the fact that Makino had two of his works selected alongside the work of these masters while still a student is clear evidence of his talent. His style of painting was unique; he never copied the styles of others in his life.

From his first selection at the Bun-ten, Makino went on to receive Third Prize in 1915 and the Special Award in 1916. He was granted automatic selection in 1917, and won another Special Award in 1918. In 1919, the Bun-ten was discontinued and the Imperial Art Academy was newly established. The Academy organized an exhibition which came to be known at the Tei-ten. In 1922, Makino was selected to be one of the judges of the Tei-ten and qualified for automatic acceptance at all future exhibitions.

Later in his career, Makino belonged to the Kaiju-sha, the Ogen-sha, and the Rokucho-kai groups (in that order), and released works every year. Since joining the Rokucho-kai (literally means the Six Tides Society) in 1930, his paintings increased their radiance and their style changed slightly. Through the same group, Makino came into contact with such Japanese-style artists as Heihachiro Fukuda, Gakuyo Nakamura and Hoshun Yamaguchi, and was spiritually and technically influenced by them. In 1929, Makino became Professor of the Western-style Painting Department of the Imperial Art School. Later, he participated in the founding of the Tama Imperial Art School, where he served as Chief Professor of the Western-style Painting Department for the rest of his life.

This painting is a depiction of a mountain in Hakone. Kanrei landscape (1939), now in the collection of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, closely resembles this work. Around 1936-37 Makino traveled to the second house of an acquaintance in Sengokubara, Hakone, in spring and autumn to paint. This painting is thought to have been produced during that period.

Rather than dutifully depicting the subject matter, Makino deformed it with liberated brushwork and, in doing so, depicted works which strongly reflected his subjectivity. The relaxed, optimistic, liberated brushwork provides a refreshing impression. His paintings also reveal a somewhat nostalgic and homely sentiment.

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Torao Makino
(1890-1946)
Mt. Hakone in spring

Around 1936-39
Oil on canvas
61×91cm