painting;
calligraphy;
album
- Museum number
- 1973,0226,0.106
- Description
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Painting, calligraphy, album. Forty-eight works by distinguished calligraphers and painters of Edo. Ink and light colours on paper. Inscribed, signed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1817
- Dimensions
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Height: 28.60 centimetres (each opening)
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Width: 32.80 centimetres (each opening)
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- Curator's comments
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Among the varied styles practised by Bosai, a Confucian scholar and calligrapher in Edo, his free and idiosyncratic cursive mode (sosho) was particularly admired. This is the opening page of an album containing forty-eight pages of painting and calligraphy such as might have been produced at one of the public 'calligraphy and painting parties' (shogakai) that were an ever-more prominent feature of the cultural life of the city as the nineteenth century progressed. Other important calligraphers represented include Bosai's son Ryorai, father-and-son Ichikawa Kansai and Ichikawa Beian, Kikuchi Gozan and Ota Kinjo. The painters are dominated by Tani Buncho (1763-1841), his pupils and followers. (Label copy, TTC 1997)
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Hizo Nihon bijutsu taikan Vol 2
In the latter part of the Edo period, particularly in the Bunka and Bunsei eras (1804-30) and later, when there was a vogue for emulating the tastes of the Literati school, people frequently asked well-known artists and calligraphers for examples of their work, which were then collected in albums or placed on sliding screens for leisurely appreciation. The album of calligraphy and painting introduced here is the product of such requests, made around the year 1817 talented artists and calligraphers active in Edo. Unfortunately, nothing is known of the individual who showed such enthusiasm for collecting outstanding painting and calligraphy. Alongside the better-known artists and calligraphers, one also notes a considerable number of presumed dilettantes, their names otherwise unknown, who took the opportunity to display their personal talents.
Where the paintings are concerned, many of the artists seem to have been followers of Tani Buncho. The calligraphers include such outstanding artists as Kameda Hosai and his son Ayase, Ichikawa Kansai and his son Beian, Kikuchi Gozan, Ota Kinjo, Ichikawa Beian, and Maki Ryoko. The painters include many of the well-known artists of Edo at the time: Tani Buncho, Kita Takekiyo, Onishi Keisai, Kanai Ushu, Yoda Chikkoku, Haruki Nanko, Watanabe Gentai, and Sakai Hoitsu. Although the album gives some idea of the flourishing state of art in Edo during the Bunka and Bunsei eras, it includes no work remote in style from the Literati taste - for example, that of traditional schools such as the Kano school or those new schools influenced by Western painting, or any other work showing interest in contemporary life.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1973
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1973,0226,0.106
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.518 (Japanese Painting Additional Number)