A brilliant early work by Domoto Insho showing a scholar at rest, having a cup of tea with an unseen visitor, the shoulder of his blue robe barely visible in the window. Enclosed in the original signed double wood box dated Autumn of 1923 and titled Kango-zu (Idle talk). Pigment on silk in a patterned brocade border with large ivory rollers. The scroll is 55.5 x 226 cm (22 x 89 inches) and is in fine condition.
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.
