Kanō Shōei

Shōei: Masuda Motoyoshi

Kanō Shōei ( Japanese 狩 野 松 栄 ; born 1519 ; died November 24, 1592 ), real name: Tadanobu ( 直 信 ), was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school of the late Azuchi Momoyama period .

life and work

Shōei was the son of Kanō Motonobus and the father of Eitokus and Sōshūs . He made a Buddhist vow and received the honorary title Hogen .

Shōei supported his father in his last years and produced works for the temple Ishiyama Hongan-ji. Since his two older brothers died early, he became the head of the Kanō family after the death of his father. For a while he was also active in this function. In 1563, for example, he painted a picture for Daitoku-ji in Kyōto that depicts “Buddha entering nirvana”, or Nehan for short ( 涅槃 図 ). In 1569 he painted a picture for the Itsukushima Shrine on a door , depicting Watanabe no Tsuna ( 渡 辺 綱 ; 953-1025) knocking down a demon at a city gate ( 源 の 綱 中 闘 城門 鬼 の 図 , Minamoto no Tsuna chūtō jōmon-ki no zu ). But as soon as Eitoku began to show his artistic talent, Shōei seems to have withdrawn from active life and left him running the school.

Shōei's outstanding ink paintings include the “landscapes” ( 山水 , Sansui ) and the ensemble “tigers, leopards and monkeys” ( 虎豹 猿 図 , Kohyōen-zu ) on sliding doors, which he and Eitoku created in 1566 for the Jukō-in ( 聚光 院 ) designed in Kyoto. His painting does not have the strong expressiveness of Eitoku, but his pictures show a slightly humorous tone, and the style of the Nanga painters can also be heard .

Remarks

1. ↑ Hōgen ( 法眼 ) and the higher title Hōin ( 法 印 ) were - together with the lowest degree Hokkyō ( 法 橋 ) - honorary titles that were originally awarded to high priests, but later also to artists and scholars.
2. ↑ Watanabe is descended from the Saga Minamoto. - The city gate refers to the Rajōmon of Heian-kyō, today's Kyōto. The huge, later dilapidated gate is the site of numerous eerie stories.

literature

• Tazawa, Yutaka: Kanō Shōei . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Shōei . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

Commons : Kanō Shōei  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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