National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This triptych comprising Wisdom, Impression and Sentiment from the right was submitted to the second Hakuba-kai Exhibition in 1897. A newspaper article based on an informal talk with Seiki Kuroda described his intention as follows: "As there are impressionist, idealist and realist schools in painting, Mr. Kuroda strived to represent his impression as "Impression," his ideal as "Wisdom" and his realism as "Sentiment" through unrestricted nude paintings. Nude paintings using Japanese as models began with these paintings." This triptych gave rise to much controversy at the time as it was displayed just after the public showing of his nude painting "Chosho," which he created during his stay in France (created in 1893, but destroyed in a fire in 1945). Later, his signature was added to the triptych and it was submitted to the International Exposition held in Paris in 1900 under the title of "Etudes Femmes (Study of Women)," where the triptych was awarded the Silver Prize. The painter's intention in using a Japanese woman as a model, idealizing her figure to match the female figure represented in Western paintings and using a gold background, the model's pose and the thought or philosophy he strived to represent via the pose remain points of controversy, even at present.