YOROZU Tetsugoro (1885-1927)
Landscape Through the Trees
c.1918
Oil on canvas
54.3×45.5cm

This landscape,where beyond the trees rows of houses spread out as if seen from a higher place,can be considered as depicting Tsuchizawa,Yorozu's hometown.Here,a scene of a remote farming village which may be fouund anywhere has a illusionary nature which is far off from reality.The picture surface is quite gloomy and melancholy and emits a strange phosphorescence.The whole including the trees are somewhat vague like a scene under the water.On the contrary,the rows of houses which are the only things that stand out clearly seems to be like an illusion.It was 1914 or 15 that Yorozu temporarily returned to his hometown of Tsuchizawa.It was around 1918 that he produced several other works which were landscaepes through the trees like this particular work.Probably during that period,the actual landscape of Tsuchizawa within Yorozu must have undergone a gradual transformation.Each of these works shows completely unique nature.When compared with the other works which have the attitude of pursuing the paintings' unique order which is different from reality,this work still has close resemblence with the actual farming village.It may be that the actual landscape was just about to begin transformation inside him.

But that probably is not the only peculiarity of this landscape.Between ourselves and the rows of houses separated by the trees,there is a distance which cannot be cleared.The gloomy feeling,generated by this distance and the darkness of the picture surface,is the very thing which makes this a very unique work.

(Maki Tsuchida)