Happy Landscapes

What does a painter see when he steps away from his canvas? In Osaka, Koide Narashige finds awkward modern clothing, disappearing Western buildings, crowded theaters, noisy festivals and the peculiar music of his native speech. At home, he encounters troublesome insects, an inherited medicinal business, family arguments and a heart whose behavior seems beyond explanation.

His memories of Nara, childhood streets and travel in Europe move freely between affection and mockery. Women’s faces, still-life apples, theatrical villains and fashionable exhibitions become occasions to ask what makes something beautiful, genuine or merely affected. The painter’s eye continually unsettles the respectable view of ordinary things.

First collected in 1930, Happy Landscapes presents the complete supplied volume by the Japanese Western-style painter Koide Narashige. Its lively, sometimes provocative essays show a city and an artistic life negotiating the habits of the past and the inventions of the present. Brief notes clarify Osaka expressions, performance traditions, historical customs and uncertain references while preserving the humor and contradictions of the narrator’s voice.