INTRODUCTION
16
tween himself and his work, and accidentally he succeeded as if by magic in establishing the same relationship for us, the onlookers. It goes without saying that the pictures of such an artist are richer than they appear; while he used only Chinese ink in his pictures, our imagination is pleased to see them with the addition of colour, and even voice.
The subjects which are treated in the present volume are various, but I dare say that all the artists whose art I have treated here will well agree in the point of their expression of the Japanese spirit of art, which always aims at poetry and atmosphere, but not mere style and purpose.
Y. N.
London,
May 13, 1914.
