関口俊吾　SEKIGUCHI Shungo

Shungo Sekiguchi was active in France for more than half a century. Before the war, he stayed in Paris as a French government scholarship student, but he had to return to Japan when German troops invaded Paris. After the war, as a painter, he was the third to set foot in Paris again, following Takanori Oguisu and Tsuguharu Fujita. The place in northwestern France's Normandy region, Yport, where this work was created, is where Sekiguchi's mentor, Takeo Kanokogi, stayed and produced his works. Nearby are Étretat, painted by Monet, and Le Havre, where Dufy was born. Normandy is also known as the place where the Allied forces carried out landing operations. It was likely created while various images intermingled, not only the beauty of the landscape but also Sekiguchi's feelings toward Kanokogi and experiences during the war.