1996/01（本試）
In second-hand shops there are many works of art which are forgotten and gathering dust. Yet each one of them may have an interesting tale to tell if only we could discover it.
Under one of Tokyo’s thundering expressways in an expensive night-life district, there used to be and may still be a little antique shop. The elderly owner kept a collection of various old wood-block prints and paintings and seemed content with his simple shop, although I never saw anyone buy anything there.
The first time I went in, an oil painting in the farthest corner of the shop caught my eye. For six months I watched to see if it was still there. Eventually I asked the owner the price. He said \180,000. Bargaining is not usual in Japan, but in a shop with so few customers it seemed worth a try. So I offered \110,000. In the end, we agreed on \130,000.
The picture was of an apple orchard with a small girl at the front. Painted with a free, confident hand, it had a fresh feeling of warmth and light. It was in the Impressionist style, signed with the name Bordes, which looked French. The name-plate on the frame suggested that it had once hung in a gallery or a grand collection. I wondered whether I had perhaps acquired a treasure.
The picture, which became a familiar object to me, moved with me from Tokyo to Hong Kong and then to England. It became an important part of my baggage during those years, and I very much wanted to trace its identity. The dictionary of painters included Leonard Bordes, a twentieth-century French landscape painter of the group known as the Rouen School. So I wrote to the museum at Rouen and received a letter from the head of the museum. I learned that Leonard Bordes was born in 1898. Although a professional musician, his principal activity was painting. In particular, he preferred rather melancholy scenes of the countryside around Rouen. By the time he died in 1969, he had painted more than 10,000 scenes.
At last I went to Rouen and visited the museum. There were no pictures by Bordes there, but I was given a list of art shops in the city, some of which had paintings by Bordes for sale. Despite the price, I bought one. Afterwards, I walked back to my hotel and by chance came upon yet another art shop not on the list. I went in and was greeted by an elderly woman, who turned out to have been a close friend of Bordes’ family. Her shop had supplied Bordes with his paint and brushes, and she was delighted that someone had traced him all the way from Japan.
I promised to send the old lady a photograph of the original painting. After a time it was returned to me, signed on the hack by Bordes’ two daughters. The elder of the two, Giselle, identified herself as the girl under the apple trees, aged eight, in the summer of 1930. They had no idea where the picture had been during the 61 years since then.
So there it was. I had rescued the picture from the second-hand shop in Tokyo and had uncovered its history. It was simply a cheerful picture of a family picnic by a man who painted every day, but whose paintings were usually somewhat sad. The picture’s story was not especially significant, but I had pleasure in telling other people about it and how I discovered it.
- What happened when the author first went to the antique shop in Tokyo?
① He bargained for a painting by a French artist which he liked.
② He came across a painting which attracted him.
③ He found a painting which he had admired some years before.
④ He learned the story of the painting in the corner. - What did the author do with the painting of the orchard after he bought it?
① He gave it to Hordes’ elder daughter.
② He had it framed so that it would look more expensive.
③ He sent it to the owner of an art shop in Rouen.
④ He took it with him each time he moved. - Why did the author want to discover more about the painting?
① He already had another painting by the same artist.
② He had grown fond of ii over a long period.
③ He recognized the young girl under the trees in the picture.
④ He was convinced that it was very valuable. - What did the author find out about Hordes?
① Bordes had little time for painting because of his work as a musician.
② Hordes painted scenes which tended not to be cheerful ones.
③ Bordes painted very many pictures of the people of Rouen.
④ Hordes rarely painted pictures of natural scenes. - What was the outcome of the author’s trip to Rouen?
① He bought a number of paintings which caught his eye in the art shops.
② He discovered who the girl in the picture was.
③ He found out what Hordes’ daughters had been doing in the past 61 years.
④ He was able to identify the apple orchard in the painting.
