TitleJapanese Beggar
Artist
Robert Frederick Blum
(American, 1857 - 1903)
Date[1891]
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 17 × 12 1/8 in.
Framed: 20 1/2 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/4 in.
SignedSigned lower left: "Sketch by Robert Blum"
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Gift of the estate of the artist, 1904
Object number110-P
Label TextThis sketch by Blum was created in Tokyo on April 12, 1891. An excerpt from his diary for that day mentions his sudden inspiration to create this depiction of the mendicant trapper priest who served as his model: "Struck by the picturesque . . . figure in bright sunlight I was suddenly taken with a desire to make a small sketch of it so putting aside my canvas grabbed colors & brush and in spite of wind and obstacles [of restless model] went at it - the best I've done I think [of paintings in Japan]. His very restlessness acted as a spur to my looking and doing it simple & in masses."
