Higashiyama Kaii (1908-1999), Cathedral at Dawn, Linberg, Germany (Asa no seido, Doitsu, Rinburuku), Showa period, 20th century | 東山魁夷　朝の聖堂 　昭和46年（1971年）

Mitsukoshi Department Store

New Works Depicting Old Towns in Germany and Austria by Kaii Higashiyama, Mitsukoshi (Nihonbashi), Tokyo, 1971, exh. no. 4.

10th Anniversary of the Museum Part 1 Jakuchu and Isson, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2022, exh. no. 39 (unillustrated).

Gyoshu / Isson, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2024, exh. no. 5-14 (unillustrated).

Kaii Higashiyama, Koto o egaku Doitsu Osutoria o tabishite [Depicting Old Towns in Germany and Austria], Tokyo, 1972, no. 7.

Kaii Higashiyama, Ao no sekai [The World of Blue], Japan, 1976.

Kaii Higashiyama, Essays and Illustrations, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1979.

Kaii Higashiyama, Small Selection of Works: Germany and Austria, Tokyo, 1984, no. 4.

Kaii Higashiyama, Higashiyama Kaii, vol. 3 Oshu kiko [Travels in Europe], Japan, 1989, no. 43.

Kaii Higashiyama, Higashiyama Kaii jisenga bunshu [Works Selected by Higashiyama Kaii with His Essay], vol. 2 Oshu junyu [European Tour], Japan, 1996, no. 68.

Kaii Higashiyama, Catalogue Raisonne of Kaii Higashiyama, Japan, 2004, no. 998.

Kaii Higashiyama, Art Album, vol. 2 , Mori to mizumi no kuni-e no tabi [Journey to the Land of Forest and Lake], Japan, 2008, no. 84.

Kobayashi Tadashi ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 1, Tokyo, 2019, p. 203, no. 146.

There is stillness over the Lahn River. The Limburg Cathedral is suffused in the blues and greens of early dawn light. Higashiyama described blue as ‘the colour of adoration and nostalgia’, a sentiment befitting a painting created after a return visit to the country where the artist spent his formative years. Born in Yokohama in 1908, Higashiyama studied Nihonga painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts under Yuki Somei (1875–1957), who encouraged him to leave a personal imprint on his work, imparting him with the maxim: ‘even if things are green, when you feel that it is red, you paint it red’. After graduating in 1931, Higashiyama received a scholarship to traveling to Germany to study European art at the University of Berlin. Decades after, he revisited Germany with his wife in 1969, producing Cathedral at Dawn, Linberg, Germany two years later from sketches taken during that journey.

Higashiyama’s work is rooted in the Nihonga – or ‘Japanese Revival’ style painting – tradition and shows a continued fascination with landscapes imbued with emotion. Travel formed the core of his artistic practice; from Kyoto and Nara in his youth, to Europe, China and northern Japan in his later years, Higashiyama sought the ‘heart’ of each landscape to approach a comprehension of human nature. Over his career, Higashiyama received prestigious commissions, including murals for the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in 1968, fusuma for the Toshodai-ji Temple in 1971, and a painting presented to Mao Zedong (1893-1976) in 1972 to celebrate the normalisation of Sino-Japanese relations. There is a simultaneous objectivity and intimacy in his works: mountains, rivers, and forests are not mere depictions but internalised landscapes. As the artist reflected – ‘these mountains are not real mountains, but mountains that are burned into my soul’.

來源

三越百貨店

展覽

《東山魁夷新作展 ドイツ、オーストリアの古都を描く制作・「窓」の主題による連作》，三越（日本橋），東京，1971年，展覽編號4

《開館10周年記念展 第1部 若冲と一村 - 時を超えてつながる-》，岡田美術館，箱根，2022年，展覽編號39（沒載圖）

《御舟と一村 珠玉の日本画》，岡田美術館，箱根，2024年，展覽編號5－14（沒載圖）

出版

東山魁夷,《古都を描く ドイツ・オーストリアを旅して》， 東京，1972年，編號7

東山魁夷， 《東山魁夷 青の世界》，東京，1976年

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷画文集》，卷六 ，東京，1979年

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷小画集 ドイツ・オーストリア》，東京 1984年， 編號4

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷画》，卷6：欧州紀行 ，東京，1989年，編號43

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷自選画文集》， 卷2：欧州巡遊 ，東京，1996年. 編號68

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷全作品集》，東京， 2004年，編號998

東山魁夷，《東山魁夷 Art Album》， 卷2：森と湖の国への旅，東京，2008年，編號84

小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷1，東京，2019年，編號146

蘭河籠罩在靜謐之中，林堡大教堂沉浸於藍綠交織的晨光中。東山曾將藍色形容為「憧憬與鄉愁的色彩」，此特質恰與這幅重遊成長國度後創作的作品相契合。1908年出生於橫濱的東山，就讀東京美術學校時師事結城素明（1875-1957），後者鼓勵他在作品中留下個人印記，並贈以箴言：『即使事物本是綠色，若你感受到紅色，便畫作紅色』。1931年畢業後，東山獲獎學金赴德國柏林大學研習歐洲藝術。數十年後，他於1969年偕妻重訪故地，依據旅途速寫於兩年後完成此幅《朝の聖堂》。

東山的創作根植於日本畫（或稱「日本復興風格」）傳統，始終傾情於蘊含情感的風景畫。旅行構成其藝術實踐的核心，從年少時的京都奈良，到晚年遊歷歐洲、中國與日本北部，他始終追尋每片風景的「心魂」，以趨近對人性的理解。在他的藝術生涯中，東山曾獲多項重要委託，包括1968年為東京皇宮繪製壁畫、1971年為唐招提寺創作襖繪，以及1972年為慶祝中日關係正常化贈予毛澤東的畫作。其作品既具客觀性又蘊含親密感：山川林木並非單純再現，而是內化的心象風景。正如藝術家所言：『這些山巒並非真實之山，而是烙印在我靈魂中的山』。