Takehisa Yumeji

While Goethe was familiar with Chinese literature (more on that in a future post), Japan had not really entered his sphere of thinking. It's too bad, for no doubt he would have admired the charming images of Japanese women painted by Takehisa Yumeji. I became familiar with the Japanese painter when I was living in Tokyo many years ago. There was a small exhibit of his paintings at a department store in the Ginza -- department stores in Japan are great exhibition venues -- and at the time I bought a small package of postcards, thinking I would send them to friends. I have held on to these cards jealously, however, not wanting to part with the beautiful pictures, usually of women in love. Today I came across Yumeji on this site and decided to post this touching painting. Here is a link to more images. The influence of Western art is evident, but the works are also unmistakably Japanese. The couple appears to have been shopping!