HIGHLIGHT

The work depicts a large sea bream so big that it extends beyond the plate on the table, with its head turned from the right toward the upper left. The composition also incorporates the golden-brown floorboards, slightly offset from the table holding the plate, into the picture. This bird’s-eye perspective is one of the elements that heightens the richness of expression in both the work and the artist, Sotaro Yasui. It is said that Yasui often painted subjects such as fruits or flowers that were given to him by friends or neighbors. Naturally, the creation of such works takes time, and this passage of time brings changes to the objects themselves: flowers discolor and wither, and fruits eventually rot.

A work with the same theme of “sea bream” is held at the Uehara Museum of Modern Art in Shimoda, Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture (a private museum exhibiting a modern painting collection donated by Shoji Uehara, honorary chairman of Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.). The work, titled Silvered Sea Bream (65.0 × 54.0 cm), closely resembles the present piece. According to the museum’s description, “A fresh sea bream received from an acquaintance for the New Year is depicted from a different angle with vivid colors. The fish remained in the studio until May while the painting was being worked on.” As a result, the sea bream, initially bright red, had completely dried out by the time the painting was completed.

The artist himself recalled: “It was the first time I painted a sea bream in oil, so it did not go smoothly and did not turn out as I had hoped. Day by day, the model fish gradually became completely dried. The dried fish was actually very delicious, and in some ways, it looked like a fine silver sculpture.” He also added that upon seeing the finished sea bream, he felt sorry for it and, together with his family, carefully buried it along with the plate in the mountains.

It is further noted that it was highly unusual for Sotaro Yasui to depict fish in still-life paintings, which makes this work exceptionally significant within his oeuvre. In terms of artistic value, it is considered comparable to—or even higher than—Silvered Sea Bream. Moreover, this work was exhibited posthumously in the “Sotaro Yasui Retrospective” held in Tokyo and Kyoto the following year, indicating that it was recognized as a highly esteemed piece among Yasui’s works.