The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum has uploaded a new video on its “tfamfilm” YouTube channel, produced as a tribute to “The Exhibition of Three Generations—Uemura Shoen, Shoko and Atsushi,” which regrettably had to be cancelled after only two days of showing from February 29 in the wake of the pandemic and subsequent self-enforced closure. We hope you will enjoy the video, which runs for some 14 minutes, over the lockdown, by clicking on this link: https://youtube.be/sKqlCr4-vQM.
Uemura Shoen (1875-1949) gained popularity for her Japanese-style paintings of so-called “beautiful women,” or bijin-ga, going on to become the first female recipient of the Order of Culture award and official artist of the Imperial Household. Shoko was her son and Atsushi, her grandson, both of whom were to emerge as prominent artists in their own right. While portraying the artistic legacy inherited by her progeny, the Japanese-language video follows the talent and success of Shoen and imparts the incisive lessons of life that she won:
Having gone through occasions of artistic impasse, of personal anguish, there were countless of times when I felt from my heart as if I would find more joy in death than to endure as much misery in life. Break through such times often enough and people are able to lead truly strong and resilient lives.
