The Westering Sun

June 14, 2008 10:28 AM

Where can I find (in a book or online) an image of Okada Saburosuke's painting "The Westering Sun"? I haven't been able to locate so much as a reference to it since seeing it in the Tokyo National Museum. Is there a more common English rendering of the title?
posted by Cucurbit to society & culture (4 comments total)

Well, 岡田三郎助 is his name in Japanese, and here's a Google image search on it, if that helps. Good luck!
posted by languagehat at 10:54 AM on June 14, 2008

This is an interesting problem. I don't suppose you know what the Japanese title was, or the year it was painted, or anything like that? How about when/where in the museum you saw it exhibited?

A 1908 painting of Okada's called "katamuku hikage (zassō)" 傾く日影(雑草), which means "slanting [i.e. evening] sunbeams (weeds)" was apparently exhibited at the museum in 2004. But I can't find a picture of it online, so it's, uh, basically useless to you.

If languagehat's Google image search doesn't work out, I think your best bet is to email a friendly-seeming local academic with an interest in Japanese art, or find a book of Okada's work somewhere and page through it.
posted by No-sword at 4:49 PM on June 14, 2008

languagehat: Thanks for the untransliterated name and the search suggestion. I did find some very pleasant Okada (presumably) paintings I hadn't previously seen, but not, alas, "The Westering Sun."

No-sword: I saw it last summer. Unfortunately, I don't know the Japanese title or the year of composition, although I remember being surprised at how old it was. If memory serves, it was in the TNM compound's largest building (straight ahead from the gate), in one of the galleries to the right of the main entrance, on the left side of the wall nearest the gate. That painting you found looks promising, thanks -- the title sounds close and the year is probably in the right range, though the exhibition date's wrong; still, it could have been exhibited again. Assuming nobody replies here with any leads, I'll take your suggestion of contacting an academic and mention it as a possibility.
posted by Cucurbit at 6:27 PM on June 14, 2008

Just dropped back in to say that that "katamuku hikage (zassō)" 傾く日影(雑草) painting was in that room again in June through July 2007 (e.g.), and that room is in the main building, so I think the odds are really good that it is what you're after. Frustrating not to be able to confirm it visually online, though.
posted by No-sword at 5:40 AM on June 15, 2008