午夜剧场

The subtitle, "He Who Has Beheld Beauty," is borrowed from the translation by the short-lived poet Shungetsu Ikuta of the poem "Tristan" by the 19th-century Bavarian classical poet August von Platen.

The poetic metaphor of a soul captivated by beauty being led toward death was directly entrusted to the protagonist, the writer Eschenbach, in Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice."

The motif will surely be fully conveyed if one recalls the opening scene of director Luchino Visconti's masterpiece film, where the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No. 5 envelops the protagonist as he rests on the deck of a steamship.

This book depicts how paintings from all times and places have been discovered or have undergone various vicissitudes through the gaze of the "viewer" throughout history, as seen through the people and social movements involved in those eras. It is a narrative that stands apart from art history, which primarily discusses the innate qualities of the painter and the technical skill of the work.

In addition to the painters themselves, a diverse range of participants involved in the periphery of the works appear, including the models within the paintings, collectors, politicians, patrons, and journalists. Everyone is a "person who has beheld beauty," and at times, this moves not only the fate of the work but the gears of history itself.

Famous paintings from the Northern Song dynasty, which wandered throughout China after leaving the last emperor Puyi during the Xinhai Revolution, returned to the Palace Museum in Beijing during the Cold War following Zhou Enlai's decision to prevent their outflow to the United States. What was the sorrow of a certain cardinal who commissioned Caravaggio, who was also a criminal, to paint "The Calling of St. Matthew"? Another contemporary woman reflected in Kiyokata Kaburaki's masterpiece "Tsukiji Akashicho," Ichiyo Higuchi—. The episodes hidden behind the canvas will likely evoke a new gaze toward these famous paintings.

In addition to using abundant color illustrations, great effort was put into the bookmaking, including the cover, design, and layout. This is a book for which I would like to seek evaluation as a paper publication, rather than as mere "information."

The work used for the cover, "The Painter's Children in the Japanese Room," is by the 19th-century Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny. Through the vision of a far-off "Japan," along with the strange tale in the final chapter of the painter's connection with a Japanese diplomat, I want to consider the mysterious power that the representation of painting exerts on history.

Shinzo Shibasaki

Genki Shobo

240 pages, 2,800 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.