Tofu 1876/77
Takahashi Yuichi has never been in Europe. His love for modern (Western) painting ignited when he he saw a collection of Western lithographs. He was impressed by the high degree of realism, which was uncommon for Japanese eyes at that time. But he also felt that the pictures had their own identity. In 1862 he was admitted to the Western painting shool of Kawagami Togai. Takahashi was a very diligent and studious pupil but he was dissatisfied with the lack of practical education and he felt himself uncomfortably confined to the utilarian/technical approach. So he decided to find his own way to modern painting and walked every day to Yokohama to follow painting lessons from the British journalist/amateur painter Charles Wirgman. During these years he also had the opportunity to study a collection of original Dutch oil and waterpaintings.The collection of Dutch paintings was collected and brought to Japan by the Japanese navy officer Uchida Tsunejiro. Takahashi painted several food still lifes like "Tofu" (see above) and "Salmon" painted in 1877 (see left) .Today "Salmon" is considered as a milestone in Japanese arthistory : the first modern painting in the Meiji period in which the artist expressed his own interpretation of reality. When Takahashi painted "Salmon" his personal reality was quite different. Nobody wanted to buy his still lifes. The painting "Salmon" was shown to the common people as a curiosity at fairs during temple festivals.