Church / Alley in Paris

Beneath a cloudy sky, a large stone church with a pointed tower fills the center of the canvas. The front has a pointed-arch entrance, and the walls have a rough texture from thickly layered paint. A row of low houses runs to the left of the church, and the ground is traced roughly in brown and greenish tones.

The Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts records the work as made in Taisho 13 (1924) and donated by a person identified only as a certain gentleman. Saeki made his first stay in Paris from January 1924 for about two years. Around this time he is said to have been deeply shaken when the Fauvist painter Vlaminck harshly criticized his work, and his style grew rougher.

Works from this first stay are mostly Paris street scenes, and the influence of Utrillo as well as Vlaminck has been noted. After two stays in Paris, Saeki died in 1928 at age 30. This painting conveys the early Paris period of his short career.