Nōami

Nōami: Kannon

Nōami ( Japanese 能 阿 弥 , actually Nakao Shinnō (中 尾 真 能), other artist names: Ōsai (鴎 斎), Shūhō (秀峰), Shun'ōsai (春 鴎 斎); born 1397 ; died 1471 ) was a Japanese monk-painter the Muromachi period .

life and work

Nōami lived in Kyoto, was an art connoisseur and initially worked for the Asakura family in Echizen Province . Then he returned to Kyoto and served the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as artistic advisor (同 朋 衆, Dōbōshū). Like the great Nō playwright Zeami , he trained in Buddhism and adopted the ami as part of his name. Nōami was an expert in poetics, incense, painting, drawing up pictures and decorating rooms. From the reign of the 6th Shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori , he seems to have been responsible for the collection of Chinese works of art of the Shogunate. He also seems to have been entrusted with overseeing the work on the interior design of the palaces.

At the time of the Shogun Yoshimasa, he cut the scroll “Eight Views of Xiaoxiang” by the Chinese artist Yujian and mounted it on eight scrolls. He also made copies of key paintings in the collection, including Ma Lin and Reien Mokuan . In 1468, when an official mission was sent to China, he himself painted an image of the Eight Views as a gift to the Chinese. In the same year he painted a picture of Kannon dressed in white , which still exists.

Nōami's style is based on the academic landscape painting of the Southern Song , in particular on the painting style of the Muqi . His work became the model for Japanese painters of the Muromachi period and later epochs. Nōami wrote a work called "君 台 観 左右 帳 記" (Kundaikan sō chōki), in which he laid down his thoughts on Chinese painting and decorating rooms, intended as a practical guide for later times.

photos

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  lotus

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  Four seasons, pair of screens

Remarks

1. ↑ "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" (瀟湘 八景) have often been copied in Japan and also reproduced by their own "Eight Views of ...": see " Eight Views of Lake Biwa ".

literature

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

Web links

Commons : Nōami  - collection of images, videos and audio files