Fusen Tetsu

Fusen Tetsu ( Japanese 不 染 鉄 , born June 16, 1891 in Tokyo , died February 28, 1976 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction during the Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

Fusen Tetsu was born as the son of the high priest of the temple Kōen-ji ( 光 円 寺 ) in the Koishikawa district of Tokyo, Fusen Nobuō ( 不 染 信 翁 ). At the time, his father is said to have been employed as an overseer over the mausoleums of the Zōjō-ji in the Shiba district. His son Tetsu wrote his original first name Tetsuji ( 哲 治 ) as 哲爾 , or with the characters 哲 二 . He attended Shiba Middle School ( 芝 中 学校 Shiba chūgakkō ), which was operated by the Jōdo direction of Buddhism, then switched to Kōgyokusha Middle School ( 攻 玉 社 中 学校 Kōgyokusha chūgakkō)). He then took up studies at the Taishō Buddhist University .

At first Fusen was engaged in painting under teachers in the neighborhood, from 1914 he studied at Nihon Bijutsuin . He is said to have made friends with Murayama Kaita . Then he left Tokyo and visited the islands of Ōshima and Shikine-jima to draw. He stayed there for three years and worked as a fisherman. In 1918 he enrolled at the "Municipal School for Painting Kyoto" ( 京都 市立 絵 画 専 門 学校 Kyōto-shiritsu kaiga semmon gakkō , today: Municipal Art School Kyoto ), where he was accepted as a master student. In 1923 he graduated as the best. As early as 1920 his picture “Summer and Autumn” ( 夏 と 秋 Natsu to aki ) was accepted on the 3rd “Teiten” . This was followed by “Dorf” ( folg Mura ) on the 4th part, “Village by the sea” ( 海 村 Kaison ) on an exhibition organized by the newspaper Ōsaka Maichichi Shimbun ( 大阪 毎 日 新聞 ), ( 山海 図 絵 Sankai zue ) on the 6th Teiten, “Ōshima” on the 7th “Notes of Memory” ( 思 出 の 記 Omoide no ki ) etc., where he processed his memories of his stay on the islands. He was awarded a silver medal for the "Village by the Sea".

Fusen loved to do a lot of different things. At the School of Arts and Crafts, he had copied the illustrated tradition of Priest Ippen ( 一遍 ; 1239–1289), to whom he felt a constant wanderer. He continued to exhibit at the Teiten, participated in 1940 by invitation in the design of the "Daitō Nansōin" ( 大 東南 宗 院 ) by the painter Komuro Suiun ( 小 室 翠雲 ; 1874-1945), but gained little fame with it. He gradually withdrew from the public eye, moved to Nara and spent his old age there.

Remarks

1. ↑ Teiten ( 帝 展 ) is the abbreviation for the annual state art exhibition ( 帝国 美術展 覧 会 Teikoku bijutsu-in tenrankai ) between 1919 and 1935. The predecessor from 1907 to 1918 was called Bunten ( 文 展 ) for Mombushō bijutsu tenrankai ( 文部省 美術展 覧会 ), the successor from 1936 to 1944 was preceded by a shin ( 新 ) for “new”. The successor from 1946, no longer state-owned, is called Nitten for short - ( 日本 美術展 覧 会 Nihon bijutsu-in tenrankai ).
2. ↑ The picture shows the towering Fuji above a detailed coastal landscape.

Web links (images)

At the Tokyo National Museum :

• "Spring in Shinano" ( 春 の 信 濃 路 Haru no Shinano-ji ), 1935
• “View of the Sea in the South” ( 南海 之 図 Nankai no zu ), approx. 1955
• "Discarded ship" ( 廃 船 Haisen ), approx. 1969

literature

• National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (ed.): Fusen Tetsu . In: Kyōto no Nihonga 1910–1930. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 1986. ISBN 4-87642-117-X .

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