Moritani Nanjinshi

Moritani Nanjinshi ( Japanese 森 谷 南人 子 , real first name Rikio (利 喜 雄); born July 14, 1889 in Ōimura (大 井村) ( Okayama Prefecture ); died March 11, 1981 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction during the Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

Moritani was born the fourth son of a merchant family. When he was five years old, the family moved to Kobe on business . There he met Murakami Kagaku at school, who was in a class above him, and decided to become a painter too. In 1909 Moritani graduated from the Department of Painting of the City School of Arts and Crafts (京都 市立 美術 工 芸 学校, Kyōto shiritsu bijutsu kōgei gakkō) and continued studying at the city art college (京都 Kunst 絵 画 専 門 学校, Kyōto shiritsu kōto gakkō), from which he obtained his diploma in 1913. With his friends Kawai Unosuke (河 合 卯 之 助), Nonagase Banka and others, he founded the group magazines Mokujō (黙 鐘) and Kōbō / Kōmō (光芒), and also produced woodcuts.

His picture “快 晴” (Kaisei, beautiful weather) submitted at the first exhibition of the association “Kokugasōsaku kyōkai” (国画 創作 協会) was rejected, as was the one at the second exhibition “朝” (Asa, morning). At the 4th exhibition his picture “秋 の 日” (Aki no hi, autumn day / autumn sun) was accepted, as was the picture “Bild の 里” (Fuyu no sato, village in winter) at the 5th exhibition. He was accepted as a member of the association. At the 6th exhibition he showed “夏 の 海 辺” (Natsu no umibe), “秋 郊” (Shūkō, autumn suburb) and “海 近 き 村” (Umijikaki mura, village by the sea), on the 7th “田園 夏日 ”(Den'en kajitsu, summer day in the country),“ 海 辺 (曇) ”(Umibe (Kumori), By the sea (cloudy)). After the Kokugasōsaku kyōkai disbanded in 1928, Moritani and friends founded the 新 樹 社 (Shin jusha). but that already dissolved in the following year. From 1930 he exhibited at the state Teiten and Shinbunten.

After the Pacific War , Moritani rarely exhibited at general exhibitions and limited himself to showing his pictures at Onomichi's residence . His work includes almost exclusively landscape and sea images of his surroundings. He moved away from the style of oil painting and finally painted poetic pictures in the style of the nanga . - Moritani was represented at the exhibition Japanese painting in Berlin in 1931 with the picture “ Winter Beginnings (Landscape near Onomichi)”.

Remarks

1. ↑ Today the district of Kasaoka .
2. ↑ ^{a b} 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), short for Mombushō bijutsu tenrankai ( 文部省 美術展 覧 会 ), the successor from 1936 to 1944, a shin (新) for "new" was placed in front of it.

literature

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

Web links (images)

At the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art :

• Moritani: "快 晴" - nice weather; 1918

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