Kibou Kodama (1898–1971) was a painter born in Hiroshima Prefecture who played an active role in the modern Japanese art world. His real name was Shōzō. After moving to Tokyo, he became a pupil of Kawai Gyokudō and devoted himself to the study of landscape painting in particular. He gained recognition at the Teiten and Nitten exhibitions; after receiving the Japan Art Academy Prize, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy. He also spent time in Europe, incorporating Western landscapes and aesthetic sensibilities into his own Japanese paintings, thereby adding new dimensions to ink-wash expression.

Kodama Kibō’s works possess the tranquillity of traditional landscape painting, whilst their composition exhibits a certain modern clarity. Although mountains, trees and buildings are rendered with great care, it is striking how she avoids getting lost in the details and instead captures the overall atmosphere of the landscape. To me, the appeal of Nozomi Kodama lies not merely in her preservation of traditional Japanese painting techniques, but in her endeavour to bridge the gap between landscape painting and the modern era by incorporating the landscapes she has witnessed first-hand and the sensibilities she acquired whilst abroad.