“By the Light of the Lanterns" by Mortimer Menpes, R. I., from “Japan, A Record in Colour” by Dorothy Menpes

By the Light of the Lanterns

Mortimer Menpes

1901

Watercolour

Source: Japan, A Record in Colour, facing p. 40

Menpes was enchanted with night-time scenes in Japan. They were as much a form of art to him as paintings. — Jacqueline Banerjee (see below for Menpes' own comment).

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"As I walk through the London streets at night, how prosaic is the flicker of each gas-jet, within its sombre panes of glass, in some 'long unlovely street,' and how different from the softened rays that shine from out the dainty ricksha lanterns illuminating the streets in Japan! There a poem meets your eye with each step you take; and how pretty is every street corner, with its little shop, its mellow light and dainty arrangements, with the smiling face of some little child peeping out from the dim shadow beyond! It is a terrible thing to live in a country where art is the luxury of the few." (40)

Bibliography

Menpes, Dorothy. Japan: A Record in Colour. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1901. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of California Libraries. Web. 23 June 2019.

Created 22 June 2019