Miyagawa Choshun

Courtesan, enjoying the scent of incense

Miyagawa Chōshun ( Japanese 宮 川 長春 , stage name (Gō) Shunkyokudō ( 春旭 堂 ), first name Chōzaemon ( 長 左衛 門 ); born 1682 in Miyagawa ( Owari Province ); died December 18, 1752 ) was a Japanese painter in the Ukiyoe style during the middle Edo period .

He founded the Miyagawa School of Ukiyoe.

life and work

Miyagawa, who called himself after his hometown, first studied the Yamato-e under members of the Tosa School , but then switched to the Ukiyoe School under the influence of Hishikawa Moronobu and Kaigetsudō Ando . Based on Ando, ​​he did not create woodcuts, but almost exclusively painted pictures of beautiful women with fine lines and graceful coloring, as it was the taste of the Kyōhō period (1710–1736).

In his later years, Chōshun and his students, including his son, got into an argument with Kanō Shunga, an official painter of the Tokugawa shogunate and a representative of the Kanō school . Chōshun complained that he had not been paid for repair work in Nikko . When the dispute led to the death of several participants, including Shunga, Chōshun's most important disciple Miyagawa Isshō ( 宮 川 一笑 ; 1689-1780) was exiled to the island of Niijima in December 1752 . Chōshun died that same month, December 18th.

Since Isshō was not present to continue the line, another student took over, Miyagawa Shunsui ( 宮 川 春水 ). Like his teacher Chōshun, Shunsui specialized in painted pictures. Among the students was Katsukawa Shunshō , who founded the Katsukawa School as a branch school.

Miyagawa Chōshun's best-known works are “Courtesan, enjoying the smell of incense” ( 遊 女 聞 香 Yūjo monkō ) and “Genre picture scroll” ( 風俗 図 巻 Fūzoku zukan ), both owned by the Tokyo National Museum .

photos

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  Shunga trio

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  Shunga

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  Genre scroll (excerpt)

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  Couple in the rain

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  Scene at the shrine

literature

• Inagaki, Shin'ichi: Miyagawa Chōshun. In: Ukiyoe Nyūmon. Kawade, 1990. ISBN 4-309-72476-0 .
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Miyagawa Chōshun . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Chōshun (Nagaharu) . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

Commons : Miyagawa Chōshun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Genre picture roll

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