[Audio Guide]
A boy with plump cheeks blushes, his dark eyes slightly downcast and his red lips raised in a faint smile. Is he nervously attempting to maintain his smile, or is he trying to keep a serious expression and suppress a smile of embarrassment? The attentive rendering of the boy’s ambiguous expression gives it its charm. The painting dates from 1918, a time when Japan’s painting world was beginning to expand, with increased opportunities to learn about current Western trends and for younger painters to exhibit their work. Osawa Seiichiro, a painter based in Aichi and almost entirely self-taught, came to be highly praised for his realistic, delicate portrayals of neighborhood children and scenery, as seen here. Osawa founded an artists’ group known as Aibisha the year before this work was produced, and was a pillar of support for other painters, contributing to the formation of an art scene in the region.
