Ogata Korin

"Red plum blossoms", right part of a pair of screens, MOA Museum of Art (Atami, Japan)

"Irises" ( Nezu Museum ) (right screen of a pair of adjustable screens)

Ogata Kōrin ( Japanese 尾形 光 琳 ; * 1658 in Kyōto ; † June 2, 1716 ) was a Japanese painter and lacquer artist . Kōrin is considered one of the most important representatives of the Japanese art movement Rinpa and many of his works are today declared by the Japanese government as the national treasures of Japan or as important cultural assets of Japan .

Kōrin was the son of the wealthy cloth merchant Ogata Sōken (1621-1687), whose business Kariganeya ( 雁 金屋 ) maintained close ties to the imperial family and the high aristocracy of Kyoto. In his youth he worshiped a dandy lifestyle. He learned painting from Yamamoto Sōken († 1706), Kanō Tsunenobu (1636–1713) and Sumiyoshi Gukei (1631–1705), but was only forced to make a living as a professional artist when his father's business went down.

Kōrin developed a decorative style, which was characterized by a few, highly stylized forms and rejected both a realistic representation and the usual conventions of the Kanō school . He was strongly influenced by his predecessors, Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558–1637), known mainly as a calligrapher and lacquer artist, and the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu (active around 1600–1640). With his younger brother Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743), a ceramic artist and painter, Kōrin collaborated in numerous works. In lacquer work, Kōrin often used white metals and mother-of-pearl and followed Kōetsu's model. The term Rinpa goes back to the second character of Kōrin's name and literally means " Rin school".

In 1701, Kōrin was awarded the rank of hokkyō ("Dharma Bridge") at the age of 43 . He died at the age of 59. His most important students are Tatebayashi Kagei (active in the mid-18th century), Fukae Roshû (1699–1757) and Watanabe Shikō (1683–1755). However, today's knowledge and admiration of his work are largely due to efforts by Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828), who revived Kōrin’s style at the beginning of the 19th century and published a compilation of woodcut reproductions of 100 works by Kōrin, Kōrin hyakka-zu .

The golden backgrounds on Gustav Klimt's pictures are said to have been inspired by Ogata Kōrin.

Works

• Kakitsubata-zu byōbu [irises]. Six panel pair of screens, national treasure
• Kōhaku-zu byōbu [red and white plums]. Two-paneled screen pair, national treasure
• Nakamura Kuranosuke-zō [Portrait of Nakamura Kuranosuke]. Hanging scroll, important cultural asset
• Yatsuhashi-zu byōbu [yatsuhashi]. Six-panel screen pair
• Yatsuhashi maki-e raden suzuribako [lacquer writing case with Yatsuhashi motif]. National treasure

swell

• Meech-Pekarik, Julia. "Kōrin", in: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan , Vol. 4. Kodansha, Tōkyō 1983.
• Hiroshi Mizuo. Edo painting: Sotatsu and Korin . Translated by John M. Shields, Weatherhill, New York 1972.
• Kobayashi Tadashi and Murashige Yasushi (Eds.). Rinpa (5 volumes). Shikōsha, Kyoto 1989–1992.
• Chizawa Teiji. Nihon no bijutsu 53: Kōrin . Shibundō, Tōkyō 1970.
• Yamane Yūzō. Kōrin kenkyū (2 volumes). Chūōkōron bijutsu shuppansha, Tōkyō 1995.

Web links

Commons : Ogata Kōrin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ogata Kōrin in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Ogata Kōrin at Zeno.org .
• Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, Kakitsubata-zu byôbu : http://www.nezu-muse.or.jp/syuuzou/kaiga/10301.html

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