Collection

The Tale of Akebono Village

YAMASHITA, Kikuji

1953

Information

Title
The Tale of Akebono Village
Artist
YAMASHITA, Kikuji View artist Information
Year
1953
Collection
Purchased
Medium
oil on dungarees
Size
137.0×214.0

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.

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