Painting on silk in mineral pigments mounted as a framed panel, depicting the edge of a pond in early summer. Signed in gold on the lower right by the artist: Sekiho Saku or Made by Sekiho, and sealed in red: Sekiho Ga In or Sealed and Painted (by) Sekiho (Mimura Sekiho, the go or art name of Mimura Tsunekichi, born 1903). Showa 4 or 1929.

Entitled Shoka no Numa or Pond in Early Summer, this painting was first exhibited at the 16th Inten in 1929 and is illustrated in the Intenshi, volume 6, page 433, number 83. At that time it was acquired directly from the artist by the art patron and collector Hosokawa Rikizo. Along with the rest of his collection, this painting entered the Meguro Gajoen Museum Collection after the Pacific War, from which it was acquired by Kagedo in 2003.

Mimura Sekiho was born to an artistic family in Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture. Both his grandfather and brother were painters. In 1924, he moved to Tokyo to study painting under Gokura Senjin. In 1928 came Sekiho’s first acceptance to the prestigious Inten exhibitions with his painting Kusabe Shokei or Study of Grasses. A year later this painting, Shoka no Numa, was accepted at the 16th Inten. In 1939, he began teaching art and calligraphy at the Tokyo Commercial School. That same year he exhibited at the 26th Inten and he was also selected to become a permanent member of the Nihon Bijutsuin or Japan Art Institute (the art association that mounted the annual Inten exhibitions). Sekiho continued to have a vibrant career late into his life. He exhibited regularly at the Inten. In 1956, he had private exhibitions at the Yamato Toyama Gallery and the Takaoka Municipal Museum. He assisted his teacher, Senjin, in making frescos for Kyoto Higashi Fujin Kaikan in 1961 and again for the Osaka Shitennoji Kodo Temple in 1965. In 1968, he was elevated to the special status of tokutai with the Nihon Bijutsuin.

Sekiho intimately renders the quiet edge of a pond. Tall green plants, wild flowers, and low banks of hazy grasses frame the scene. A low floating branch seats three convivial frogs in the foreground. Minnows punctuate the still, mirror-like water. Reflecting the slanting light of late afternoon, the pond luminously seems to melt into the distance of the sun warmed sky.

Serene and elegant naturalism.