KANAZUKA, M.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Archive of paintings and sketches executed in north China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. An expansive collection of compositions produced in the years following Japan's devastating full-scale invasion. Given access to occupied areas and allowed to accompany front-line troops, the war artist presents a picture of military heroism and day-to-day order and tranquility, the harsher realities of war apparent beneath the surface.Kanazuka, whose first name is unknown, was embedded with Japanese forces operating in the region of Shanxi and Hebei provinces and Beijing. His artworks, some perhaps prepared for publication in official propaganda, include depictions of Japanese soldiers in the field, landscapes, street scenes in captured cities and towns, and portrait studies of his compatriots and of captured communist party cadres and soldiers.The geographical focus of the collection is the city of Shimen - today's Shijiazhuang - and its environs, which the Imperial Japanese Army occupied following victory at Taiyuan in 1937 and used as an administrative centre and a location for a POW camp. In nearby Shimaizhuang, Kanazuka captures a crenelated tower flying the Japanese flag, the view from the top of the fort, soldiers playing cards, and army vehicles. A number of paintings attempt to portray the peacefulness of the town of Wangdu and other locations in the wake of their occupation. On a visit to Jingxing county, Kanazuka records the sight of the area's strategically vital coal m

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