He painted first as he was told to paint by his teachers, then by the military government, and he paints a world that no longer exists. Ono paints flowers, teahouses, and beautiful Japanese geishas, even though the world is crumbling around him. He is afraid of modern life, and Western industry. He betrayed his favorite pupil to the authorities as a traitor during the war because he felt it was the correct thing to do as a loyal Japanese person. Now his art will have no legacy. No one will live on in the future to make silk illustration part of Japan's future, just as his children are either dead or unable to have more children because no one will marry them.
Illustration is supposed to tell a story about humanity, perhaps more than any other form of drawing. It is supposed to make a writer's words and characters come to life. But Ono is a bad illustrator because his pictures tell no story about the future. The pictures only depict idealized dreams...
The pictures depict the false imagination of some people who loved the old, imperial court of Japan. The use of Japanese screen painting thus is also a rich metaphor for Ono's social place or lack of a place in postwar Japan, as his painted figures and houses float across the screens, not connected to the ground.
Illustrators often work hand in hand with writers. But this does not excuse an illustrator who paints what is wrong and is oppressive. His art and his family will become damaged in the long run if he does not make his work meaningful. Illustrators cannot live in the past. If they do so, their illustrations will not look like life, art, or reality. Illustrators have a responsibility for what their art stands for, and a responsibility to think about the other people in their lives.
Work Cited
Ishiguro, Kazuo. An Artist of the Floating World. New York: Vintage, 1989.
