Collection
The Tale of Akebono Village
YAMASHITA, Kikuji1953
Information
- Title
- The Tale of Akebono Village
- Artist
- YAMASHITA, Kikuji View artist Information
- Year
- 1953
- Collection
- Purchased
- Medium
- oil on dungarees
- Size(cm)
- 137.0×214.0
- Collection ID no.
- O01243
Commentary
This work is based on an incident that actually occurred in Yamanashi Prefecture. With three parallel vanishing points, the scene is roughly divided into four parts. From right to left, there is a scene of an old woman who committed suicide following the failure of a bank, and her daughter; followed by one in which a village girl fights back against construction of a farm road that crushed her wheat field; a third in which a man carries a large basket on his back containing a human figure who is leading a rebellion and an assault against a landowner; and finally, one in the lower section of the painting in which the leader of the rebellion is shown drowned in a red river. Though the work does not depict the actual incident, in which the villagers, no longer to bear his tyranny, attacked the landowner’s house, the viewer can surmise the causes and effects of the event from these peripheral events. The depiction of people as cross-eyed or squint-eyed dogs also enhances the folk-like atmosphere.