＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<Added 2022/6/20> “Vermeer and 17th Century Dutch Painting” from the Dresden State Gallery of Old Paintings
The above-mentioned painting exhibition will be held at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts from Saturday, July 16, 2022 to Sunday, September 25, 2022.
After restoration, this early masterpiece, “Woman Reading a Letter at an Window,” will be on public display outside the museum where it is kept for the first time in the world!
（Before restoration）
（Under repair）
（After restoration）
One of the highlights of this exhibition is Johannes Vermeer’s Woman Reading a Letter at an Window, a masterpiece from the early period in which Vermeer is said to have established his own style, with its depiction of the light streaming in through the window and the image of a woman reading a letter indoors.
An X-ray examination of this work in 1979 revealed that a painting-within-a-painting of Cupid on the wall had been painted over, and for many years it was believed that Vermeer had erased the painting himself. However, an investigation in 2017 revealed that it had been erased by someone other than Vermeer, and the following year restoration work began to remove the overpainted layer of the painting-within-a-painting. In May 2019, the work was unveiled at a press conference while it was still in the process of being restored, with part of the painting-within-a-painting of Cupid now clearly visible.
This exhibition will display documents explaining the restoration process, as well as the original appearance of Girl Reading a Letter at an Window, in which Cupid is completely revealed after a large-scale restoration project, following its unveiling at the museum in which it is stored, the Dresden State Gallery of Olden Paintings. This will be the first time the painting has been shown outside of the museum in which it is stored.
In addition, the exhibition will feature approximately 70 masterpieces from the Dresden State Gallery’s collection, including works by Rembrandt, Metsu, and Van Ruysdael, that embody the golden age of 17th century Dutch painting.
Currently (2019), the “Vermeer Exhibition” is being held at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Arts (in Tennoji Park). (Period: February 16th to May 12th) Six of Vermeer’s works will be exhibited in Osaka this time, as follows.
“The Procuress,” “Love Letters,” “Christ in the House of Martha and Mary,” “A Woman Writing a Letter and Her Maid,” “A Woman Writing a Letter,” and “A Woman Tuning a Lute”
When I was a student, Vermeer didn’t seem to get much attention. However, about 15 years ago, “Vermeer exhibitions” started to be held frequently.
Is this a similar phenomenon to the sudden popularity of Baroque music by Vivaldi (1678-1741)’s “The Four Seasons” in Japan after the war?
Vivaldi’s music has been accepted by many Japanese people probably because of its elegance, quiet healing, and because Japan has four seasons. In addition, I believe that the outstanding performance techniques of I Musici, which was formed in 1952, contributed greatly to the “rediscovery of Vivaldi” during the “Baroque Boom” after World War II.
１．About “Vermeer”
（The figure on the far left of “The Procuress”. There is a theory that this is a self-portrait of Vermeer.）
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter and one of the most representative painters of the Baroque period.
He is known as the “Magician of Light” for his realistic depictions, skillful use of light to express texture, and meticulous spatial composition.
Famous works include “Girl with a Pearl Earring (Girl with a Blue Turban)”, “The Milkmaid”, “The Astronomer” and “Music Lesson”. In particular, “Girl with a Pearl Earring (Girl with a Blue Turban)” has a mysterious and enigmatic charm and is also called the “Mona Lisa of the North”.
He is a painter who produced very few works, with only around 30 of his works remaining today.
In addition, a “forger” named Han van Meegeren is famous for producing many counterfeits of Vermeer’s works.
２．The Charm of Vermeer
Vermeer’s paintings are not as glamorous as Renoir’s, nor as passionate as Van Gogh’s or as bright and unrestrained as Gauguin’s; they are rather somber and dark. However, he skillfully depicts the way light shines into dark places, which gives a soothing impression.
He was highly acclaimed as a painter during his lifetime, but he was gradually forgotten because he produced few works to begin with, his subjects were the everyday lives of ordinary people, and his works were in private collections.
However, in 19th century France, artists such as Courbet and Millet appeared, who painted the everyday lives of ordinary people without idealizing them, which eventually led to the Impressionist movement.It was against this backdrop that 17th century Dutch painting, which was based on realism, once again came into the spotlight.
In that sense, I believe that just as people all over the world were attracted to the forgotten and buried Vivaldi after World War II, people in 19th century France also found Vermeer to be freshly fascinating.
Additionally, the 2004 film adaptation of Tracy Chevalier’s book of the same name, which was inspired by the painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” may have also fueled its popularity in Japan.