Nakamura Tsune
A Western-style painter from Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. Fighting illness, he painted portraits at the Nakamuraya in Shinjuku and at his studio in Shimo-Ochiai. "Portrait of Vasilii Eroshenko" at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, is an Important Cultural Property.
Nakamura Tsune was born in 1887 (Meiji 20) into a family of former Mito domain samurai. He entered the army cadet school in Nagoya to become a soldier, but left because of a lung disease and, during his recuperation, resolved to paint. In 1906 (Meiji 39) he studied under Kuroda Seiki and others at the Hakubakai institute. At the Bunten he won third prize for "Seaside Village" in 1910 (Meiji 43) and for "Woman" the following year.
From around 1911 (Meiji 44) he was supported by Soma Aizo and Kokko, the couple who ran the bakery Nakamuraya in Shinjuku, and worked in a studio behind their shop. In 1916 (Taisho 5) he set up a studio in Shimo-Ochiai, Tokyo, and lived there. Learning from Rembrandt and Renoir, he painted figures in thick color and warm light. At Shimo-Ochiai he kept working even while bedridden.
"Portrait of Vasilii Eroshenko" (1920, Taisho 9) depicts the blind Russian poet Eroshenko, who was staying at the Nakamuraya, and was shown at the Teiten that year. The face in the light and its inward-looking expression remain in the memory. Nakamura died in 1924 (Taisho 13). His studio is open to the public as the Nakamura Tsune Atelier Memorial Hall of Shinjuku Ward. In his hometown of Mito, the Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki also has an exhibit recreating this studio. Besides portraits, he painted still lifes and landscapes.
