Edomond-Fransçois Aman-Jean (1860-1936)was born in a suburb of Paris. The visits to the Luvre stirred him to be interested in the classic art and consequently want to be a painter. He was in the same class at the National Art School with Georges Seurat who was a leading Pointillist. They were such close friends as to share a studio for some time.
At the end of the 19th Century when Aman-Jean was studying art very hard, different art movements were formed; thus many art exhibitions were held. He was also stimulated through the visits to exhibitions of the Impressionism and Pierre Puvis De Chavannes among others. He himself showed his paintings at the newly established Salon de la Societe National des Beaux-Arts and Salon Rose Croix.
Aman-Jean depicted women in an elegant and sweet manner, reflecting the time at the end of the 19th Century, and that won him popularity. His style of painting, however, gradually became outdated and left out by new art movements.
Nonetheless, we cannot neglect his ties to Japan. Aman-Jean provided Torajiro Kojima with a lot of advice for his effort of collecting paintings. He drew the portrait of Mrs. Kuroki, niece of Kojiro Matsukata (Note 1) and Matsukata bought many paintings of Aman-Jean.
"Festival of Venice" is a painting depicting a festival in Venice, Italy. It was painted to decorate another house the Ohara had built in Osaka. To create this painting, Aman-Jean might think about the mural painting techniques of Puvis De Chavannes, who had influenced him greatly while he had been serving him as his assistant at the young age. A story is unfolding on the stage by the lake. Imagine what type of music that a woman holding a string instrument in the center of the canvas is playing. Doesn't it lead you to another imagination and yet another?
Note 1: Kojiro Matsukata(1865-1950), who was an industrialist, collected art works in Europe, aiming to build a museum of art to introduce western art to Japan. In 1959, after the death of Matsukata, the National Museum of Western Art was established to house the Matsukata Collection. Portrait of a Japanese Woman (Mrs. Kuroki)(1921)by Aman-Jean is still part of the collection of National Museum of Western Art to this day.
Patrick-Gilles Persin"AMAN-JEAN"(Solange Thierry Editeur)1993
Catalogue of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Paintings / Sculptures (The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo) 1997
The Bulletin of Ohara Museum of Art Vol. 1: Origin of the Collection of Ohara Museum of Art by Aomi Okabe, 2001
New History of World Art Vol. 24, Shogakukan Inc. 1996
Anecdote
In August, 1922, Kojima paid a visit to Aman-Jean during his second trip to Europe. On this occasion he handed Aman-Jean the design drawings and three pieces of dimensional drawings of the Ohara's another house which was under construction in Kamihonmachi, Osaka, requesting him the production of a mural. Right before this trip to Europe, Kojima visited the construction site of the house to discuss the construction details with Magosaburo Ohara. (Note 2)
When he visited the site, he is believed to have measured the dimensions of the walls and discussed images they wanted to have for the wall Aman-Jean would potentially paint a mural for. The mural appeared to be almost complete when Kojima visited Aman-Jean in his studio next January. Kojima, however, went home in March without taking it back with him. The painting was put on display at Salon des tuilerries later that year, the title of which was not "Festival of Venice" then, but "Dedicated painting: decorative panel for a mansion in Japan." (Note 3)
The painting was subsequently sent to Ohara and had been on a wall of one of the western rooms of the house until 1928.
After the establishment of Ohara Museum of Art it was displayed on the second floor of its main building, and then transferred to the lobby of Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel upon its completion. The exhibition "Ohara Museum of Art in its Olden Days" was held on October 24, 2000 and onwards to duplicate the exhibition style the museum had about 50 years ago. On this occasion the painting was put back to the museum for the first time in a long while.
On February 4, 2001 the exhibition "Ohara Museum of Art in its Olden Days" ended. Following this, the restoration work on the painting was performed for the first since its purchase. Restoration experts painstakingly removed dust and spots little by little every day, spending two and half months. Presently it is displayed on the second floor of the main building of the museum and it presents itself in its brilliant colors and flamboyant landscape in the same way as it was first painted.
Note 2: Quoted from the short biography of Torajiro Kojima.
Note 3: Quoted from the Bulletin of Ohara Museum of Art Vol. 1: Origin of the Collection of Ohara Museum of Art by Aomi Okabe, 2001
Festival of Venis
Commentary
Edomond-Fransçois Aman-Jean (1860-1936)was born in a suburb of Paris. The visits to the Luvre stirred him to be interested in the classic art and consequently want to be a painter. He was in the same class at the National Art School with Georges Seurat who was a leading Pointillist. They were such close friends as to share a studio for some time.
At the end of the 19th Century when Aman-Jean was studying art very hard, different art movements were formed; thus many art exhibitions were held. He was also stimulated through the visits to exhibitions of the Impressionism and Pierre Puvis De Chavannes among others. He himself showed his paintings at the newly established Salon de la Societe National des Beaux-Arts and Salon Rose Croix.
Aman-Jean depicted women in an elegant and sweet manner, reflecting the time at the end of the 19th Century, and that won him popularity. His style of painting, however, gradually became outdated and left out by new art movements.
Nonetheless, we cannot neglect his ties to Japan. Aman-Jean provided Torajiro Kojima with a lot of advice for his effort of collecting paintings. He drew the portrait of Mrs. Kuroki, niece of Kojiro Matsukata (Note 1) and Matsukata bought many paintings of Aman-Jean.
"Festival of Venice" is a painting depicting a festival in Venice, Italy. It was painted to decorate another house the Ohara had built in Osaka. To create this painting, Aman-Jean might think about the mural painting techniques of Puvis De Chavannes, who had influenced him greatly while he had been serving him as his assistant at the young age. A story is unfolding on the stage by the lake. Imagine what type of music that a woman holding a string instrument in the center of the canvas is playing. Doesn't it lead you to another imagination and yet another?
Note 1: Kojiro Matsukata(1865-1950), who was an industrialist, collected art works in Europe, aiming to build a museum of art to introduce western art to Japan. In 1959, after the death of Matsukata, the National Museum of Western Art was established to house the Matsukata Collection. Portrait of a Japanese Woman (Mrs. Kuroki)(1921)by Aman-Jean is still part of the collection of National Museum of Western Art to this day.
Patrick-Gilles Persin"AMAN-JEAN"(Solange Thierry Editeur)1993
Catalogue of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Paintings / Sculptures (The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo) 1997
The Bulletin of Ohara Museum of Art Vol. 1: Origin of the Collection of Ohara Museum of Art by Aomi Okabe, 2001
New History of World Art Vol. 24, Shogakukan Inc. 1996
Anecdote
In August, 1922, Kojima paid a visit to Aman-Jean during his second trip to Europe. On this occasion he handed Aman-Jean the design drawings and three pieces of dimensional drawings of the Ohara's another house which was under construction in Kamihonmachi, Osaka, requesting him the production of a mural. Right before this trip to Europe, Kojima visited the construction site of the house to discuss the construction details with Magosaburo Ohara. (Note 2)
When he visited the site, he is believed to have measured the dimensions of the walls and discussed images they wanted to have for the wall Aman-Jean would potentially paint a mural for. The mural appeared to be almost complete when Kojima visited Aman-Jean in his studio next January. Kojima, however, went home in March without taking it back with him. The painting was put on display at Salon des tuilerries later that year, the title of which was not "Festival of Venice" then, but "Dedicated painting: decorative panel for a mansion in Japan." (Note 3)
The painting was subsequently sent to Ohara and had been on a wall of one of the western rooms of the house until 1928.
After the establishment of Ohara Museum of Art it was displayed on the second floor of its main building, and then transferred to the lobby of Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel upon its completion. The exhibition "Ohara Museum of Art in its Olden Days" was held on October 24, 2000 and onwards to duplicate the exhibition style the museum had about 50 years ago. On this occasion the painting was put back to the museum for the first time in a long while.
On February 4, 2001 the exhibition "Ohara Museum of Art in its Olden Days" ended. Following this, the restoration work on the painting was performed for the first since its purchase. Restoration experts painstakingly removed dust and spots little by little every day, spending two and half months. Presently it is displayed on the second floor of the main building of the museum and it presents itself in its brilliant colors and flamboyant landscape in the same way as it was first painted.
Note 2: Quoted from the short biography of Torajiro Kojima.
Note 3: Quoted from the Bulletin of Ohara Museum of Art Vol. 1: Origin of the Collection of Ohara Museum of Art by Aomi Okabe, 2001
Painting
Apple Picking
Small Table in Evening Dusk
Song of Songs (Le Cantique des Cantiques)
Haystacks
Waterlilies
Cliff of Gréville
Coutyard at the ‘Rondest House’, Pontoise
Woman Wearing a Hat with Silk Gauze
Delightful Land (Te Nave Nave Fenua)
All Things Die, But All Will Be Resurrected through God’s Love
Wave
Carriage and Pair
Three Dancers in Red Costume
Autumn Sea
Old Horse in the Wasteland
Landscape
Festival of Venis
Hair
Winter Orchard
Beethoven
Landscape of La Ferté-Milon
Annunciation