Lot 364: Kainosho Tadaoto (1894-1978) Taisho Period, early 20th century

Taisho Period, early 20th century
Twelve shunga paintings mounted on shikishi, in ink, colour, gold and silver on silk, each signed with seal, comprising:
1) A couple lying on floor, a man leaning on his elbow, with his right leg over the girl's leg who is toying with a frog.
2) A couple kissing and making love with their kimono half off.
3) A couple lying on a floor, a man reading a book while a woman makes love to him.
4) A couple making love, the woman lying against a rattan chair.
5) A couple leisurely reclined, almost naked, smoking inside a mosquito net.
6) A naked couple making love.
7) A young monk and middle-aged man holding a rosary, making love.
8) An old man making love to a young girl on a futon.
9) A young couple wearing western dress making love beside an alarm clock.
10) A newly-married couple seated in front of a gold silk screen.
11) A girl wearing a red kimono and a man wearing a silver kimono making love.
12) A naked couple making love on a zabuton (Japanese cushion)

Together with a shikishi inscribed with an introduction about the artist by Sakutaka and another titled Dai kanki (The ultimate Pleasure) by the artist and signed with seal Kainosho in; with wood storage box. Each leaf approx. 28.8cm x 37cm(11 3/8in x 14½in) (15).

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Literature: Kainosho Tadaoto, Kainosho Tadaoto gashu - Romantic erotist, Kyuryudo, Tokyo, 2009.

Kainosho Tadaoto was a Japanese-style painter, Jidai fuzoku koshoka (a specialist in the historical research on customs and costumes), whose family was originally a wealthy samurai family. Firstly studying under Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942), he was then recognized by Murakami Kagaku(1888-1939). In 1915, he graduated from the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting. He exhibited Yokogushi (A Comb in the Side Hair) at the Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (the Association for the Creation of National Painting) and became famous as 'the rookie of the year'. Following the success of his work Seii no Onna (Woman in Blue) winning a prize at Tei-ten (the Exhibition of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts) in 1922, he became a member of Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai in 1924; thereafter he frequently exhibited his works. But meeting with a film director Kenji Mizoguchi around 1940 he changed his career greatly, and began to specialise in historical investigation about films.

His subjects in paintings are mostly figures, especially ladies; and more rarely, landscapes. Different from most Japanese paintings up until that time, his paintings are even considered grotesque, using subdued colours to emphasise the discrepancies of the models beyond reality. Many of the graphic scenes presented here are very careful in the attention paid to the colour and detail of the costumes, and the technical virtuosity of the composition as well as the historical and romantic atmosphere of the Taisho era evoked by the images. The artist admired and was greatly influenced by the old classic Ukiyo-e master Kitagawa Utamaro, which is acknowledged in the inscription on the shikishi included in this lot and discernible from the portrayal and subject matter of the figures in some of the paintings. The artist himself acknowledged this in his personal essays.