The 'French' Painting

Recently, I wrote about this painting which the family inherited from my mother, referring to it as the 'French painting' because that is how she described it in the list she made of her possessions, although it was bought in London in 1937 - see earlier post here.

One of this blog's readers, DM, has taken on the challenge of finding out a little more about the artist and has found some paintings, including....

....this one, which were painted by the same man.

DM writes, "There was a Japanese artist called Yokouchi Kiyoharu (Ginnosuke) (1870–1942). The date fits." This is evidently the artist, so there's more about him here.

If only my mother were alive today to tell us why she bought it. As far as I can ascertain, in 1937 she came back to Britain from Zanzibar having completed her two-year contract - which she then extended. So she must have bought the painting on that 'leave'. But she travelled back to Zanzibar by train via Paris and Marseille, where she joined the ship - so she must have brought the painting back in her luggage.

There are so many questions, to most of which there can now be no answer. However, I'm sure that she'd be thrilled to know that we were taking so much interest in a picture which she obviously loved - and might be intrigued if she didn't already know that the picture came from far away Japan, via a shop in London's King William's Street.