Gorou Kobayashi, a Japanese-style painter, was active in the Japan Academy of Fine Arts Exhibition from the Shouwa period to the Heisei period. Kikou Kobayashi (Gorou’s son), who is also active as an artist, is well known. Gorou Kobayashi’s famous works includes his “Ainu” series and “The Silk Road” series. In addition, he was highly skilled in “suibokuga” (ink-wash painting), so he created the “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” series, “Ryoukan” (a great Zen monk in the Edo period) series, “Issa KOBAYASHI” (a great Japanese poet in the Edo period) series, “Rikyuu SEN” (a founder of the tea ceremony in the Sengoku period) series, “Country Landscapes” series and so on.

This is a painting of a puppy by Gorou Kobayashi. The depiction of the lovely puppy’s facial expression is very impressive. The bold unpainted space accentuates the puppy’s lively motion, and centralizes viewer’s attention on the puppy. The lovely puppy almost soothes our souls.