Late summer is depicted here in burgeoning color by important 20th century artist Mizuta Chikuho. The colors are tender, restrained—as if the artist painted with the memory of sunlight. Each fruit, serene and luminous, holds the quiet fullness of a passing season, a moment not yet gone but already fading. It is a portrait of abundance caught in reflection. Light color and ink on silk mounted in beige cloth extended in blue with faux ivory rollers. It is 44 x 110 cm (17-1/2 x 43 inches) and is in Modern Kiri-wood box.
Mizuta Chikuho (1883-1958) was an Osaka Nanga artist trained under Himejima Chikugai, a Nihon Nangain member often displayed at the Nitten and, in fact, bestowed with the honor of judge for the prestigious event in his later years. Works by the artist are held in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto Municipal Art Museum, Spencer Museum collection, and Minneapolis Institute of Art among many others.
