Uragami Gyokudō

Powder snow from ice clouds ( 凍 雲 篩 雪 図 , Tōun shisetsu zu ), national treasure ( Kawabata-Yasunari memorial)

Uragami Gyokudō ( Japanese 浦 上 玉堂 ) (* 1745 ; † October 10, 1820 ) was a Nanga painter of the late Edo period .

Career and artistic activity

Gyokudō served as a close confidante Ikeda Masaka ( 池田 政 香 ; 1741–1768) from the Kamogata-han, a branch of the powerful Ikeda clan in the province of Bizen . Gyokudō often had business to do in Edo. He also studied koto and poetry, where he called himself Gyokudō Kinshi ( 玉堂 琴 士 ) as a koto player . This name was derived from an inscription “Clear tones from the jade hall” ( 玉堂 清 韻 , gokudō seiin ) on the back of a koto from the Ming period , made by Gu Yuanzhao ( Chinese  顧元昭 , W.-G. Ku Yüan- chao ).

Gyokudō also studied painting under Tani Bunchō . In 1793 he gave up his post and gave up his samurai status the following year with his sons Shunkin ( 春 琴 ), who also worked as a painter, and Shūkin ( 秋 琴 ). He spent the remaining years traveling the provinces and making a living painting.

Many of his landscape pictures show a strong, rhythmic brushstroke, mostly only in black, gray, red and yellow.

Image selection

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  landscape

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  Landscape on a fixed fan

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  mountains

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  landscape

Remarks

1. ↑ Two mountain peaks above clouds ( 双峰 挿 雲 図 , Sōhō sōun-zu ) in the Idemitsu Art Museum .

Choice of fonts

• Gyokudō Kinshishū ( 玉堂 琴 士 集 , "Gyokudō Kinshi Collection")
• Gyokudō Kimpu ( 玉堂 琴譜 , "Gyokudō: Notes")
• Gyokudō Zakki ( 玉堂 雑 記 , "Gyokudō: miscellaneous")

literature

• Takeda Kōichi: Nihon no nanga. Toshindo, Tokyo 2000, ISBN 4-88713-347-2 .
• Yutaka Tazawa: Uragami Gyokudō in: Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art. Kodansha, Tokyo 1981, ISBN 0-87011-488-3 .
• Yoshiho Yonezawa, Chu Yoshizawa: Japanese Painting in the Literati Style. Weatherhill, New York 1974, ISBN 0-8348-1019-0 .

Web links

Commons : Uragami Gyokudō  - 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 . Thus Uragami is the family name, Gxokudō the first name.