Abstract

Kishida Rysei held the private exhibition at the house of Nojima Yasuzo in 1922. This exhibition seems so significant because the recent works which depicted his daughter Reiko were exhibited, and the most of them included the characteristic as 'Derori' which Rysei often mentioned in his essays. Though researchers have considered the meaning of the works as 'Derori' from the producer's point of view, this paper discusses the meaning of these works from the audience's point of view. The first section mentions that the audience of the private exhibition generally includes the educated middle class elite, who had close relation to the artists and the art world at that time. The paper then analyses the display appealing the portraits of Reiko as 'Derori', and by investigating Rysei's diary and the catalogue the audience includes a few upper class men and the educated middle class men who were very interested in the avant-garde art. Finally, making reference to the article about representation of the 'girl' in modern Japan, it intends the possibility of function of portraits of Reiko as 'Derori' as the mirror which reflected the identity of the urban educated middle class men