Kawakami Tōgai

Kawakami, painted by Koyama.

Kawakami Tōgai ( Japanese 川 上 冬 崖 ; born July 22, 1828 in Nagano Prefecture ; died May 3, 1881 ), actually Kawakami Hiroshi ( 川 上 寛 ), was a Japanese painter, one of the first in the Western Yōga style in the Bakumatsu - and Meiji period .

life and work

Kawakami Tōgai was born in Matsushiro as Yamagishi Mannojō ( 山 岸 万 之 丞 ), but was then adopted by the Kawakami family, who had a certain rank. He went to Edo as a young man and studied painting in the style of the Shijō school under Ōnishi Chinnen ( 大西 椿 年 ; 1792-1851). He then worked in the Study Center for Abroad ( 蕃 書 調 所 , Bansho Shirabesho ) and dealt with Western painting. He continued to work there when the institution was renamed Kaiseijo ( 開 成 所 ) in 1863 , and he had a number of students.

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kawakami worked on the "South Department" ( 大学 南 校 ) of the now " Daigaku " facility, which later became Tōkyō University . He also works directly for the Ministry of Education and the Japanese General Staff. While he was busy with cartography, he opened his own school in the Shitaya district, which he called Chōko dokuga-kan ( 聴 香 読 画 館 ). There he taught drawing and painting in the western style, with Takahashi Yuichi , Koyama Shōtarō , Matsuoka Hisashi ( 松岡 寿 ), Kawamura Kiyoo and Nakamaru Seijūrō ( 中 丸 精 十郎 ) among his students.

Kawakami was one of the first to paint in the Western style, but his lessons were more theoretical. In addition to a few paintings in the western style, there are numerous ink pictures of him in the so-called literary style, also known as nanga .

Kawakami's grave is in the Yanaka Cemetery . He left a book with the title "Orientation in Western Painting" ( 西 画 指南 , Seiga shinan ), which appeared in 1871 and 1875.

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Remarks

1. ↑ Today a district of Nagano .

literature

• Tokyo National Museum & a. (Ed.): Meiji no yōga - Meiji no toō gaka . Nihon no bijutsu. Issue 350, 1995.
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Kawakami Tōgai . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .

Web links

Commons : Kawakami Tōgai  - 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, Kawakami is the family name, Tōgai the first name.