Soga Shōhaku

Meet at the Orchid Pavilion

Soga Shōhaku ( Japanese 曽 我 蕭 白 , other artist names: Hiran (飛 鸞), Joki (如 鬼), Kishinsai (鬼神 斎), Ranzan (鸞 山), Dasokken / Jasokuken (蛇足 軒); born 1730 ; died 30. January 1781 ) was a Japanese painter of the middle Edo period .

life and work

Soga Shōhaku, actually Miura Sakonjirō (三浦 左 近 次郎), was believed to be the son of a merchant family in Kyoto who ran a business called Tamba-ya (丹波 屋) or Tango-ya (丹 後 屋). He himself seems to have been born in the province of Ise . He first studied painting under Takada Keiho (高田 敬 輔; 1674–1756), a student of Kanō Einō , then came under the influence of the Unkoku school. His real admiration, however, went to the painter Soga Dasoku (曽 我 蛇足) from the Muromachi period and the painter Soga Chokuan (曽 我 直 庵) from the Momoyama period . He called himself Dasoku 10. and signed his work with the "Dasokken" seal.

When Shōhaku was in his early thirties, he made various trips to the Ise area. Some works that he created during this period, such as the paintings on sliding doors (襖 絵, Fusuma-e) in Sairai-ji and Tennen-ji in the city of Tsu , have been lost, but others, such as the paintings in Keishō- ji and Chōden-ji in Matsusaka and those for the Nagashima family in Saigū have been preserved. It was the time when Sōhaku had reached the full height of his creativity. - He used eccentric deformations, strong colors and strong contrasts in brightness. His brushwork was rough but not clumsy, and also shows a timeless sense of humor. In his later years his work shows a certain formalism, overall his works show almost constant quality. Then Shōhaku lost, however, by no means justified, the recognition and was regarded as a second class artist. - In recent years Shōhaku has found increasing attention in the western world, especially in America, due to its great expressiveness and the skillful use of traditional techniques.

Shōhaku's most famous works include the two-part screen, which represents the eccentric couple Hanshan and Shide , the screen "Gathering of the Immortals" (群仙 図, Gunsen-zu) in private ownership and the screen "Demoness under a willow" (柳 下 鬼 女 図, Ryūka kijo-zu) owned by the Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku . The Boston Museum of Fine Arts owns a number of Sogas works, including the sliding doors that are painted with a dragon and cloud theme (雲龍 図, Unryū-zu).

Soga Shōhaku was buried in the Kōshō-ji in Kyoto.

photos

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Remarks

1. ↑ The title of this hanging scroll "Laughter in the Tiger Gorge" is an allusion to the Tiger Gorge in the background. In ancient China, three fearful hikers are said to have crossed the Tiger Gorge there without realizing it and afterwards broke out into liberating laughter.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Soga Shōhaku . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1442.
• Tazawa, Yutaka: Soga Shōhaku . In: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha International, 1981. ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Shōhaku . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

Commons : Soga Shōhaku  - 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 . So Soga is the family name, Shōhaku the first name.