Taikan's letter to Keisen

These are my photos of the postcards I've purchased at Yokohama Museum last Tuesday.  The exhibit focuses on Yokoyama Taikan's art, but the first painting is "Night Cherry Blossoms" by Tomita Keisen, one of Taikan's students.  I like it so much for many reasons.  Under the painting shows a Taikan's letter to Keisen praising Keisen's talent and this "Night Cherry Blossoms."  How refreshing Taikan must have felt for the first time he saw it.  Today, we can see light-up cherry trees everywhere, but not early 1900s.  Nights were dark then.  I appreciated the letter.  I felt his personality behind the dynamic and innovative art.

Taikan is a huge, national artist, and even at the time, he was especially to all the accomplished artists led by Okakura Tenshin.  I've mentioned about Tenshin many times, but if you love Japanese traditional arts, please read "The Book of Tea" written by him in English.  Taikan was also bilingual.  Other three pictures are by Taikan.  Taikan literally means "Big Picture."  He certainly lived up to his name.