Dōmoto Inshō

Insho Domoto Museum, Kyoto

Dōmoto Inshō ( Japanese 堂 本 印象 ; born December 25, 1891 ; died September 5, 1975 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction , who later also opened up other styles.

life and work

Dōmoto was born in Kyoto as the third child of the sake brewer, Dōmoto Gohei. His real name was Sannosuke ( 三 之 助 ). His older brother Kansei was busy with lacquer work. Dōmoto Inshō completed his training in design at the School of Arts and Crafts ( 京都 市立 美術 工 芸 学校 , Kyōto shiritsu bijutsu kōgei gakkō ) in Kyōto, but was initially unable to work in his field because he had to support his father, whose business was bad. In 1918 Inshō decided to study Nihonga at the city art school ( 京都 市立 絵 画 専 門 学校 , Kyōto shiritsu kaiga semmon gakkō ). From 1920 he studied under Nishiyama Suishō (1879-1958) at his school Seikōsha ( 青 甲 社 ), where he made his first degree in 1921 and then went on to study in depth.

As an artist, Dōmoto called himself "Inshō" ( 印象 ). That means "impression" / "impression", but Dōmoto was not specifically oriented towards the French impressionists. As early as 1919, while he was still in training, a two-part screen was accepted by him at the 1st Teiten exhibition entitled "Fukakusa" ( 深 草 ), which shows a landscape around the village of Fukakusa south of Kyoto. At the 3rd Teiten exhibition in 1921, his pair of hanging roles "Courtly Ball Game" ( 調 鞠 図 , Chōgiku-zu ) was awarded a prize. At the 4th Teiten exhibition in the following year he also attracted attention with his triptych “Kari-teimo” ( 訶 梨 帝 母 ) with a Buddhist figure similar to Saint Mary at the center.

In 1925 Inshō painted wooden doors ( 杉 戸 , sugito ) of a temple and began a multiple activity to design temple walls. While his early paintings are close to Nihonga, his style of painting changed after the Second World War . He also painted pictures in European style, such as the picture “A Family” ( 或 る 家族 , Aru kazoku ; 1949), and towards the end of life he also designed abstract pictures such as the six-part screen with the title “Wind God” ( 風神 , Fūjin ; 1961).

In 1961 Inshō was awarded the Japanese Order of Culture . His own museum, the "Kyōto Prefectural Insho Domoto Museum of Fine Arts" was dedicated to him.

literature

• National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (ed.): Domoto Insho . In: Kyoto no Nihonga 1910–1930. Kyoto 1986, ISBN 4-87642-117-X .
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Domoto Insho In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981, ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Web links

• Picture page of the Inshō-Dōmoto Museum

Remarks

1. ↑ Teiten ( 帝 展 ) is the usual abbreviation for Teikokubijutsuin-tenrankai ( 敵国 美術 院 展 覧 会 ), the state-organized annual art exhibition in Tokyo between the world wars.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Dōmoto is the family name, Inshō the first name.