Around the Campidoglio 1919

Curator: Standing before us is Fujishima Takeji’s oil painting "Around the Campidoglio," created in 1919. Editor: The light is very soft, diffused. It gives everything a dreamlike quality. And look at the perspective; we’re pressed right up against this massive stone structure. It dwarfs the buildings in the distance, almost making them feel… miniature? Curator: Takeji was a proponent of plein-air painting, and you really get that sense of capturing a fleeting moment here. I’m struck by how the light interacts with architectural form and the Italian landscape. Fujishima would have certainly considered the public exhibition role for landscape paintings, considering it as an integral way to promote culture. Editor: Absolutely, you sense the fleeting atmosphere of the scene. Notice that half moon in the corner there? It's interesting how Fujishima, though trained in Western styles, incorporates traditional symbols into the landscapes to stir cultural sentiments, perhaps of hope, and progress that Japan went through the end of the Meiji era and the Taisho period. Curator: Yes, that cultural tension he was experiencing surely finds its way onto the canvas. It speaks volumes about how artists reconcile traditional identity with the new Western norms and forms entering their country. Editor: He definitely infuses it with Japanese sensibilities even amidst that western influence. Those brushstrokes seem less interested in a purely mimetic representation of a place and more in translating the sensory *experience* of it. I’d also say that the location he is pointing towards is itself symbolic of a classical ideal to the society and its structure. Curator: I concur that Fujishima’s experience is about a dialogue between cultures. Editor: It certainly gives food for thought about the weight of symbols from the past. It is really so interesting. Curator: Indeed. Thanks for providing insight into the symbolism of the past. Editor: My pleasure, let's move to the next art piece then.