Yamashita Maki

Yamashita Maki ( Japanese 山下 摩 起 , born April 21, 1890 in Arima Prefecture Hyōgo , died November 7, 1973 ) was a Japanese painter of the Nihonga direction during the Taishō and Shōwa periods .

life and work

Yamashita Maki was born as the eldest son of an inn owner. Initially he called himself Masan (馬 山), later Maya (摩耶). In 1910 he graduated from the "Technical School for Arts and Crafts Kyōto" (京都 市立 美術 工 芸 学校, Kyōto shiritsu bijutsu kōgei gakkō) and continued studying at the "Special School for Painting Kyōto" (京都 市立 絵 画 画 専 門 学校, Kyōto shiritsu kaiga sem gakkō), from which he graduated in 1913. He educated himself further at the study department of the school and at the same time under Takeuchi Seihō at his school Chikujōkai (竹杖 会). During these studies his picture “Strong Wind” (渓 風, Keifū) was accepted for the 4th “ Colorful ” exhibition, two years later also the picture “Kusamura” (く さ む ら), which found recognition and which offered him further training made possible by his old training center.

Yamashita moved to Osaka in 1913, to Amagasaki in 1918, and to Nishinomiya the following year . In the same year he submitted the picture "Camellias" (椿, Tsubaki) to the 2nd exhibition of the artists' association "Kokuga sōsaku kyōkai" (国画 創作 協会), which was rejected. In 1921 his picture “Am Deich” (土堤, Dote) was accepted on the 3rd “ Teiten ”. In 1922, Yamashita moved back to Kyoto. In 1924 he showed the picture "Exercise" (習作, Shūsaku) at the exhibition of the 4th exhibition of the "Kokuga sōsaku kyōkai", moved back to Nishinomiya in 1926, and showed another picture entitled "Exercise" at the 6th exhibition.

In 1927 he went to France and stayed there until 1929. Back in Japan he showed oil paintings in solo exhibitions. In his later years he painted pictures with Buddhist content as well as pictures of nature with his own style of watercolor painting. He painted the inside of the five-story pagoda of the Shitennō-ji temple, which was restored after the Pacific War , and received the Asahi Prize for it in 1960 .

In 1974 a memorial exhibition took place in the Art Museum of Hyōgo Prefecture (庫 県 立 近代 美術館), for which a catalog was also published.

literature

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

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Yamashita is the family name, Maki the first name.