Nippon Post "Lakeside Seated Woman" by Kuroda

NIPPON POST on 20 April 1967 issued a First Day Cover stamp  entitled. "Lakeside Seated Woman" by Japanese artist Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924) . The stamp was valued at 15 sen, and is shown here affixed to a maxim card.

The woman, Teruko  Kuroda, is depicted sitting against the background of a lake, Ashinoko in Hakone, and mountains on the far shore. Although this painting is nowadays widely known under the title Lakeside, it was originally submitted to The 2nd Hakubakai Exhibition in 1897 entitled "Summering. Together with Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment", it was also exhibited at the International Exposition held in Paris in 1900. Kuroda is recognised as a Japanese Impressionist in the Western style.

Kuroda spent the summer of 1897 in Hakone with his wife, Teruko. It was during this stay that this painting was executed. His wife recalls the occasion as follows: "It was when I was 23 years old. I went to watch my husband at work on the lakeside. He told me to sit down on the rock over there, so I did and then he said, 'Good, from tomorrow I shall study that.' There were rainy and foggy days so that it took about a month in all."

Source: Kuroda Memorial Hall