A thatched farmhouse stands guarded behind a wall of green leaves, perhaps grapes or are they morning glories? Pigment on paper in a green patterned silk border extended with beige and featuring ivory rollers (These will be changed for export) enclosed in the original signed wooden box (modified as it appears to have originally framed) and dated 1922. It is 46 x 132 cm (18-1/2 x 52 inches) and is in overall fine condition, with some pale age spots in the border material.
Domoto Insho (1891-1975) was born in Kyoto. He studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting under the tutelage of Nishiyama Suisho and graduated in 1921. He contributed regularly to the Nitten and Teiten national exhibitions and won several prizes, including the Imperial Fine Arts Academy prize in 1925. After the end of the Pacific War his reputation spread to an international audience with exhibitions in Italy, France and the USA. In 1961 he was awarded The Order for Cultural Merit. He worked not only in the various manners of Japanese painting, but also oil, industrial art and printmaking. For more on this great artist visit the Kyoto prefectural Domoto Insho Museum. His work is also held by numerous temples in Japan, The Kyoto City Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art and in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
