児島善三郎　松を描く　Zenzaburo Kojima—Pine Trees—

 
 
会場 | 丘の上APT／兒嶋画廊（東京都国分寺市泉町1-5-16）
会期 | 2025年4月26日（土）- 6月8日（日）
開廊 | 12:00-18:00　月曜休
問合せ　| 042-207-7918　　　 eakojima@gmail.com
オープニングレセプション：4月26日（土）17:00-20:00　
 

Zenzaburo Kojima —Pine Trees—
Gallery Kojima (1-5-16 Izumicho Kokubunji-shi Tokyo, Japan)
April 26 (Sat.) – June 8 (Sun.), 2025
Open. 12:00-18:00　(Closed on Mondays)
Land line. +81-42-207-7918
Email. eakojima@gmail.com
Opening reception: April 26 (Sat.) 17:00-20:00
 
※The work list follows after the statement. For hires images of the paintings, please visit >>>ARTSY 
画像上／Top image: 庭　Garden　1935　油彩　Oil on canvas　45.5×60.5 cm
 

 
 
「昨年から松の研究に終始してゐます。松が意のままに描けたら
　日本の風景は初めて油画として生きて来るかと思ひます。
　日本に於て松のない名勝と云ふものは考へられない位ですから」
　　　　　　美術 3月号　昭和10年刊行、児島善三郎　「独立展予報」より
 

 
“Since last year, I have been fully devoted to researching pine trees. I believe that if I can depict pine trees as the way I see them, Japanese landscapes will finally come to life as oil paintings. In Japan, it is almost unthinkable to have a famous scenic spot without pine trees.”
 
Extract from text by Zenzaburo Kojima, Bijutsu, March issue, published in 1935, title: “Prospect on Dokuritsu Exhibition (独立展予報)”
 

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＜展示予定作品　WORK LIST＞

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

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善三郎　松を描く
 
　児島善三郎の画業は、滞欧時代を除いて、アトリエを構えた場所にちなんで呼称されています。福岡から上京し借家住まいをしていた板橋、染井時代、その後自身のアトリエを初めて構えた代々木時代前期、滞欧期を挟んで代々木時代後期、昭和11年から国分寺時代が始まり、太平洋戦争の終戦を経て昭和26年からの荻窪時代と移っていきます。アトリエを移すたびに研究の対象や画風も変化して行きました。
　善三郎は22歳で結核を患い約5年間、妻子を東京に残し実家のある福岡で療養生活を送っていました。その間、ほとんど絵を描かなかったと自伝に記しています。その頃を振り返って善三郎は「私はその間に人間の修養をした。生命の尊さを知った。今も私が、来る日、来る日を惜しんで仕事しているのはその時代の生命への愛着の実感から来ている。病室の小さな窓から外を流れる雲の姿を幾年眺めて過ごしただろう。死に直面して私のただ一つの悔いは健康な頃の日を冗費したただそれだけであった。」と記しています。22歳から27歳への5年間とは普通の青年にとって最も多感で、また社会人としての自覚も生まれ、人生の航路を決定する様な大事な時期に当たるのではないでしょうか。
　孫の私がかねがね想像していたことは、善三郎は療養生活の中で己の画業を完成する為の諸課題と向き合い、もし命が助かったなら天より与えられた時間の中でそれらを克服するべくタイムスケジュールを構築していたのではないか、ということです。当時は結核治療薬のストマイやパスが発見される前で、療養と云っても、ひたすら栄養を摂り日光浴をして十分な睡眠と軽い運動をするぐらいしかありませんでしたから、有り余る時間を過ごすには文学書や画集などを開いて自己啓発するしかなかったのでしょう。おそらくその様な間に、立体の把握と表現、空間と奥行きの表現、東洋的遠近法と西洋的遠近法の融和などの諸課題と、それらをいつまでに克服し実現させてゆくかを考えていたのではないでしょうか。その中で、後に執拗なまでに希求する「日本的油彩画の完成」への決意が既に芽生えていたのではと思います。
　今回取り上げる「松の木と日本の自然風土」は、その諸課題に対するひとつの答えだったのではないでしょうか。松は常緑樹で樹齢も長く、老松などとも親しまれ、不老長寿を象徴し永遠性を意味するそうです。久遠の生命の美を希求する善三郎にとっても、身近にありながらとても重要なモチーフだったのでしょう。代々木時代のアトリエの庭には自身で築山を造り、中心には松の木が植えられ、画中では身をくねらせ踊る様にも描かれています。また、瀬戸内や房総や伊豆の風景画では海と崖の狭間に屹立する松の姿が多く描かれています。松の幹や枝の代赭色と細く尖った濃緑色の松葉の描き方も、生け花で使う剣山のように塊で捉えたり、山の字やVの字の集合体のように表されたり、また焼き鳥屋のネギ串のようなものもあります。
　昭和11年に代々木のアトリエを後にし転居した新天地国分寺は、その名も北多摩郡国分寺多喜窪字松風園2386番地という、野川の河岸段丘の上に位置する松林の中の別荘地でした。５００坪もあった敷地の中には松の大木が７本あり、アトリエから見えるU字谷の向こうにも、家の近所にも松林ばかりで、まさに住むにも描くにもうってつけの環境でした。そして松の木の間からはるか下に広がる野川両岸の田圃は数多くの名作を生み出す絶好のモチーフになりました。
　冬枯れの田圃を見下ろす斜面にどっかりと太い幹を立て、桃山時代の障壁画のような大きな枝の塊は野球のミットを広げた様に描かれ、中空に垂れ下がる枝がミロの抽象画のように踊る「東風（1939年）」、秋の田圃を埋め尽くす金色の穂波の上にガスタンクのように誇張して描いた松と、右上から奴さんのような形をした枝が侵入してくる「秋日（1941年）」、一面の雪景色の中に雪帽子を乗せた松が茶褐色の幹を細く見せている「雪影(1946年)」など、季節毎に主役になったり引き立て役になったりしながら松は最も重要なモチーフとして扱われています。生涯で最も充実していた国分寺時代の相方はやはり松の木でした。
昭和26年に再転居した杉並区新町のアトリエ周辺には背の高い欅や樫などが多く、松の大木は有りませんでしたが、畑の周りに生えている小さな松の木や、取材旅行先の犬吠埼で強風にさらされ踏ん張っているような松の木の姿を数少ないながら描いています。晩年にあたる荻窪時代には病気の再発もあり戸外で写生する機会が少なく、室内で瓶花や静物画、人物画を制作することが多くなりました。再起を期して入院した千葉県稲毛市の額田病院の周りには海岸の埋立地に低い松並木が連なっていました。残念ながらそこからアトリエに戻る事は叶わず、松風に送られながら天国へと旅立ちました。
　善三郎の絵は没後60年以上経った今も色褪せる事なく、我が国のみならずアジア、アメリカ、ヨーロッパなど世界中のファンを魅了し続けていますが、その常盤の緑の力を、今回の展覧会「児島善三郎　松を描く」と松を描いた作品を集めた小冊子で、皆様にお届けできたら幸いと存じております。最後に、作品のお貸し出しや写真の掲載にご協力頂きました方々に厚く御礼申し上げます。
 
兒嶋俊郎（兒嶋画廊）

 

 

Zenzaburo Paints Pine Trees.
 
Toshio Kojima, Gallery Kojima
 
Except for his time in Europe, the career of Zenzaburo Kojima is typically described in relation to the location of his studio. There are Itabashi and Somei periods in Tokyo, where he lived in rented houses after moving from Fukuoka. The early Yoyogi period was when he first set up his own studio, before he left for Europe. The later Yoyogi period followed after he returned to Japan. The Kokubunji period began in 1936 and, following the end of World War II, the Ogikubo period started in 1951. Each time he moved his studio, his subjects of study and style of painting changed.
 
Zenzaburo suffered from tuberculosis for about five years from the age of 22, during which time he left his wife and children in Tokyo and returned to Fukuoka, where his parents’ home was, for treatment. In his autobiography he writes that he hardly painted during this time. He reflected, “During this time, I cultivated my character and learned the preciousness of life. Even now, the reason I cherish every day and work diligently comes from the sense of attachment to life I gained from this period. How many years did I spend gazing at the clouds passing by through the small window from my sickbed? Confronted with death, my only regret was wasting the healthy days of my youth.” The five years from age 22 to 27 are often the most sensitive years for a young person, a time when one becomes aware of one’s role in society, and perhaps, it is a period that shapes the course of one’s life.
 
As his grandson, what I have long imagined is this: Zenzaburo must have faced the challenges necessary to master his craft as an artist, and devised a timetable to complete such a task if fate were to grant him more time. At that time, with the discovery of specific tuberculosis treatments like PAS and Streptomycin not yet available, his treatment was likely limited to a simple routine of nutrition, sunbathing, sufficient sleep, and light exercise. To pass the abundance of time, he likely immersed himself in literature and art books for self-improvement. Perhaps during this period, he was contemplating how, and by when, to fully master three-dimensionality, the depiction of spatial depth, and the fusion of Eastern and Western perspective techniques. I believe that through this process, he determined how to perfect the Japanese-style oil painting he would later pursue with intensity.
 
The topic, ‘Pine Trees and the Japanese Landscape,’ which I chose for this exhibition, must have been one of the answers he discovered while tackling challenges in his pursuit of mastering art. For Zenzaburo, who sought the beauty of eternal life, the pine tree was surely a motif of great significance. In the garden of his studio during the Yoyogi period, he created a mound himself, with a pine tree planted at its center. In paintings, this pine tree appears twisting and dancing. As in the landscape paintings of Setouchi, Boso, and Izu, the image of pine trees standing tall between the sea and cliffs is a favorite scene. The depiction of the pines’ trunks and branches, with their reddish-brown hue and sharply pointed dark green needles, is often treated as a solid mass, resembling the kenzan (spiky frog) used in ikebana flower arrangements. Sometimes, pines are a collection of the Chinese character for ‘mountain, 山;’ or as an assembly of ‘V’ shapes. At other times, they are skewered leeks found in yakitori (grilled chicken) shops.
 
In 1936, Zenzaburo left his studio in Yoyogi and relocated to the new world of Kokubunji, where the word ‘pine’ was part of the address. This area, situated along the terrace of the Nogawa River, was a retreat surrounded by pine forests. The property, spanning about 1,650 square meters, had seven large pine trees. More could be found on the other side of a valley visible from the atelier and throughout the neighborhood. Pine trees were everywhere. It was truly an ideal environment, both for living and for painting. From between the pine trees, the rice fields stretching down to both banks of the Nogawa River provided a perfect setting—a remarkable backdrop for many of his masterpieces to come.
 
In “East Wind” (1939), a thick trunk stands firmly on a slope overlooking a winter-bare rice field, and the large cluster of branches, reminiscent of a Momoyama-period (16th century) screen painting, are depicted like a baseball mitt spread open while the branches that hang down in mid-air seem to dance like an abstract painting by Miró. In “Autumn Day” (1941), a pine tree, exaggerated to resemble a spherical storage tank, towers over the golden waves of rice ears filling the autumn rice field. From the upper right, a branch shaped like a stick figure, pushes the painting into abstraction. In “Snow Scene” (1946), a pine tree with a snow cap on its branches makes its brown trunk appear slender against the vast snowy landscape. As found in these examples, the pine tree is treated as a most important motif, either playing a leading role or a supporting one in each season. Zenzaburo’s partner during the most fulfilling period of his life–the Kokubunji period–was undoubtedly the pine tree.
 
There were many tall Japanese zelkova and oak trees, but no large pine trees around his studio in Ogikubo, Tokyo, where he relocated in 1951. However, during this period, he created a few paintings featuring pine trees. Among them are a painting of small pine tree growing around fields and another of pine trees standing firm against the strong winds at Inubousaki, which he painted during a research trip. In his later years, while in Ogikubo, the recurrence of his illness limited his opportunities for outdoor sketches. Instead, he focused more on indoor works, such as flowers in vases, still-life paintings, and portraits. Hoping for recovery, he was hospitalized at Nukada Hospital, where a row of low pine trees lined the reclaimed coastal land surrounding the hospital. Unfortunately, he never returned to his studio, and departed for heaven, carried away by the pine breezes.
 
More than 60 years have passed since his death, but Zenzaburo’s paintings have not lost their vibrancy and continue to captivate fans not only in Japan but also around the world, including Asia, the United States, and Europe. We hope that through this exhibition, ‘Zenzaburo Kojima–Pine Trees–,’ and the accompanying booklet featuring relevant works, we can share with you the enduring power of that everlasting green.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to those who kindly supported us by lending their works and allowing us to print photographs of the artworks.
 
 

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会場 | 丘の上APT／兒嶋画廊（東京都国分寺市泉町1-5-16）
会期 | 2025年4月26日（土）- 6月8日（日）
開廊 | 12:00-18:00　月曜休
問合せ| 042-207-7918　　　 eakojima@gmail.com
オープニングレセプション：4月26日（土）17:00-20:00　
 

Zenzaburo Kojima ‘Pine Trees’
Gallery Kojima (1-5-16 Izumicho Kokubunji-shi Tokyo, Japan)
April 26 (Sat.) – June 8 (Sun.), 2025
Open. 12:00-18:00　(Closed on Mondays)
Land line. +81-42-207-7918
Email. eakojima@gmail.com
Opening reception: April 26 (Sat.) 17:00-20:00