２.Aspiration for ancient times: 1927–1950 (age 22–45)
In 1927, Nambata Tatsuoki was studying plaster figure drawing at the Taiheiyo European Art Society Institute and the Hongo Western Painting Institute. His earliest sketchbook includes drawings of Kishida Ryusei’s Portrait of Reiko and William Blake works, demonstrating part of Tatsuoki’s learning process after deciding to become a painter. He produced a number of oil paintings that show a partiality to ancient Greek sculptures, but during the wartime years, this classical bent was instead sought in Japanese Buddhist sculpture. Beginnings of the oriental abstract style that the artist achieved in his later years are recognisable in these works. |
