Bounty of the Sea

A procession of naked men moves from right to left across the horizontal canvas. There are ten men, carrying three sharks slung from poles. Only one man near the center receives strong light from the front and turns his face toward us. Only a glimpse of sea and sky shows in the background, and the movement of the procession is the main subject of the picture.

The brush marks are rough, and in places underdrawing lines and unpainted areas are visible. The energy of the unfinished handling connects to the heat of the men walking along the beach. As Aoki himself did not speak of his source of inspiration, some studies point to ancient Greek sculpture and local festivals.

In July 1904, Aoki Shigeru, just graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, stayed for about a month and a half on the Mera coast at Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, with Sakamoto Hanjiro and others. According to Sakamoto, Aoki began working on the picture the day after hearing, at the inn, about the landing of a great catch. The work was shown at the Hakubakai exhibition that same year and was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1967.

The collection of the Ishibashi Foundation, the parent body of the Artizon Museum, was gathered by Ishibashi Shojiro, founder of Bridgestone. Ishibashi was urged by his teacher from his hometown of Kurume, Sakamoto Hanjiro, to collect the works of Aoki, a friend who died young, and he acquired Aoki's representative works including this one.