Nanga
Scholars on a bridgeSigned: Bunchô hitsu, Kazan Gaishi watanabe nobori ga dai o kaita
Seals: Chôsô, Kazan Shôsha, Noboru, Boko (tp)
Technique: sumi and some colour on paper 172.2 x 59.2
Mounting: pale brown brocade 232 x 73
Box: Authorozed in 1907 by the painter Oda Kyosai (1845-1912)
Condition: lightly creased, otherwise very good
明窓浄机筆硯紙墨極精良亦自
是人生一楽然能得此楽者稀其不爲
外物移其好者又特稀也余晩知此趣
恨字體不工不能到古人佳處若以爲楽則
自是有餘
It is one of the pleasures in life to have
a bright clean study where brush, ink,
and paper are all excellent. But it’s rare
to obtain such enjoyment, and also very
rare not to be distracted by external things.
It’s a pity that my handwriting is not good
and that I cannot have the enjoyments of
the ancients. Real enjoyment may perhaps
be found in some special place.
(From Ouyang Shu's "Trial Writing")
Ouyang Shu, politician and scholar. One of the eight great poets of the Tang and Song dynasties.
Bunchō was the eldest son of Tani Rokkoku (1729-1809), a retainer of the Tayasu daimyō family and a well-known poet. From the age of ten Bunchō took painting lessons with the Kanô painter Katô Bunrei (1706-82). After about ten years of Kanô training, around the year of Bunrei’s death he started to experiment in a wide range of other styles. He was taught the decorative Chinese painting style of Shen Nan P’in by Watanabe Gentai. The Yuan and Ming styles as well as the European styles he learned from Kitayama Kangan (1767-1801), the Sesshû style from Sakurai Sekkan (1715-90) (Sesshû XII) and Maruyama-Shijô painting from Watanabe Nangaku (1767-1813). From Go Shun, whom he met a couple of times travelling the Kansai region, he picked up the Buson style.
In 1792 Bunchō was appointed personal attendant to Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758-1829), the head of the shogunate’s Council of Elders, and accompanied him on his travels from 1787 to 1793. In 1794 Bunchô organized probably the first exhibition of contemporary painting in Edo, just like Minegawa Kien (1734-1807) had organized his Shin Shoga Tenkan* in Kyoto. In 1812 Sadanobu retired. After his employer’s death in 1829 Bunchō took the tonsure and was appointed on’eshi (distinguished painting master) by the Matsudaira family and he was generously awarded a yearly stipend of 150 koku. in 1837 he received the honorary rank of hôgen.
Bunchô was a wealthy man who was hardly able to satisfy the demand for his paintings.
Reference:
Tochigi 1979
Rosenfield B.91
Berry & Morioka ’08 p. 301-02
Roberts p. 10
Araki p. 204 ff.
Kazan, not only known as a painter, a poet, and a scholar, but also as a political figure, is still considered an important character in Japan. He was the son of a samurai of the impoverished Tawara clan. At the age of 17 he became a pupil of Bunchô, who taught him the technique of flower painting in the Ch'ing style. Apart from studying Nanga landscape painting with Kaneko Kinryô (17..- 1817) he also studied western painting. Especially his western style portraits of literati are famous.
He was a member of the Shoshikai, a group that was interested in rangaku, western science and Dutch learning. The membership of this group resulted in his arrest, because everything western was considered to be dangerous to the Bakufu. His death sentence was commuted to life-long house arrest and he was only rehabilitated in 1891, 50 years after his death. After being imprisoned on false charges in 1838 he committed suicide in 1841.
"Really outside the mainstream of Japanese painting. Independent, naturalistic artist, one of the most distinguished of his period." (Roberts)
Reference:
Next to a number of monographs in any general book on Japanese painting
Nihon bijutsu vol. 24
Roberts p. 74
Araki pp. 2007-2023
Rosenfield B. 103
Cahill pp. 113-116
Jordan & Weston pp. 81-83
Price: SOLD
