日曜美術館「小出楢重　～新しき油絵」から

What Was It That Koide Narashige Sought to Make the World Beautiful?

小出楢重が目指した世界を美しくするものとは？

先日、NHK教育テレビ「日曜美術館」で「小出楢重　～新しき油絵　府中美術館（東京）3月１日まで」が放送された。小出は油絵、ガラス絵のみならず最後は短編映画まで制作してしまうマルチアーチストだったが、彼の画風はヨーロッパ旅行（1921～1922　約５か月間　パリ～ベルリン～南仏カーニュ）の前と後とでは大きく変化したことが紹介された。初期の小出の作品は、厚塗りの油絵具と黒く鋭い陰による明暗の対比の強さが目立ち、フォービズムをも彷彿とさせる。しかし洋行後は、フォービズムの雰囲気は影を潜め、後年、裸婦に没頭する頃には筆のタッチを殺した薄塗りの表現へと変化していった。

ヨーロッパ旅行の何が小出の表現に影響を与えたのか？
番組では具体的には触れなかったが、第一次大戦後間もない当時のパリのアートシーンは混とんとしていた。エコール・ド・パリの台頭期であり,藤田嗣治が裸婦画で画壇を席巻していた頃である。さらにはダダからシュルレアリスムへの移行期でもあり、アールデコも隆盛を極めていた。また、この頃モディリアーニやシャガール、ピカソらが自らの表現を深化させつつあった。小出も他の日本の洋画家と同じく藤田の成功に触発され、自らの成功を夢見て海を渡ったのだろうか？
いずれにせよ、これらの「激動のパリの何か」が小出の画風に大きな影響を与えたのは間違いないだろう。

番組を見て学生の頃、小出の裸婦画や同じように関西出身（神戸）の小磯良平の人物画をまるで教科書のように崇め、習作に明け暮れた日々を懐かしく思い出した。

さて、小出は３８才の時、居を大阪から芦屋に移し、亡くなるまで芦屋で暮らした。そのアトリエの様子が芦屋市立美術博物館の敷地内に当時のまま再現されている。番組を見て久しぶりに「小出のアトリエ」を訪ねてみたくなった。

What Was It That Koide Narashige Sought to Make the World Beautiful?

The other day, NHK Educational TV’s program “Nichiyō Bijutsukan” (Sunday Museum) aired a feature titled “Koide Narashige – A New Oil Painting,” Fuchu Art Museum (Tokyo), until March 1.”

Koide was a multi-talented artist who not only worked in oil painting and glass painting but eventually even created short films. The program introduced how dramatically his style changed before and after his European journey (1921–1922, about five months, traveling from Paris to Berlin and Cagnes in southern France).

In his early works, Koide’s thick application of oil paint and the strong contrast between light and dark created by sharp, black shadows stand out, at times even evoking Fauvism. However, after his stay in Europe, the Fauvist atmosphere receded. In his later years, when he became deeply absorbed in painting nudes, his style shifted toward thin layers of paint with suppressed brushstrokes.

What was it about his European trip that influenced Koide’s expression?

Although the program did not go into detail, the Parisian art scene shortly after World War I was in a state of turbulence. It was the rise of the École de Paris, and Tsuguharu Foujita was dominating the art world with his nude paintings. It was also a transitional period from Dada to Surrealism, while Art Deco was flourishing. Around the same time, artists such as Modigliani, Chagall, and Picasso were deepening their own modes of expression.

Like other Japanese Western-style painters, was Koide inspired by Foujita’s success and crossed the sea dreaming of achieving his own?

In any case, it is certain that something within this “turbulent Paris” had a profound impact on Koide’s style.

Watching the program, I fondly recalled my student days, when I revered Koide’s nude paintings—along with the figure paintings of Ryohei Koiso, another Kansai-born (Kobe) artist—almost as if they were textbooks, spending countless hours making studies after them.

At the age of thirty-eight, Koide moved from Osaka to Ashiya, where he lived until his death. The appearance of his atelier has been faithfully reconstructed on the grounds of the Ashiya City Museum of Art & History.

After watching the program, I found myself wanting to visit “Koide’s Atelier” again for the first time in quite a while.