Matsuda Shohei is a Yamaguchi Prefecture-born yoga painter, and he is one year junior to Kazuki Yasuo at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, together with whom he studied under Fujishima Takeji. The present work is one example of Matsuda’s matured years after he became a Kokuga-kai member and threw himself to the making of art.

The Kinuta area depicted in the present work is nowadays known to be a greenery area in Tokyo. The current Kinuta Park was opened in 1957. In 1958, Matsuda painted another work under the same title: Scenery of Kinuta. In this later work, Kinuta is represented as a developed park area with ordered trees and pavements. In comparison, the present work captures the scenery with a far-reaching bright sky and a ground represented by bold and simple lines reminiscent of abstract expressions. The vivid palette that Matsuda applies, together with the steel tower in the center, compose an indefinable beautifulness generated from the contrast between the nature and the artificial. Recording Kinuta’s view before its conversion from an evacuation area during the war to a park after, the present work indeed encapsulates an ephemeral moment of Japan resulting from various urban planning in different phases during and after the war.

Matsuda Shohei (yoga painter; 1913−2004)
Yamaguchi-born yoga painter. Graduated from Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Studied under Fujishima Takeji with his contemporary Kazuki Yasuo. Exhibited at the first Bunten. Studied in France for two years after the graduation. Active in Kokuga-kai after returning to Japan. Shifted his style to a thinly layered technique and a lively, relaxed expression since around 1955. Known for Suo-nada Sea series. Member of Kokuga-kai. Awarded Shinchosha nihon geijutsu taisho (Shinchosha Japan fine arts award).