Yanagisawa Kien

Birds on branches in winter

bamboo

Yanagisawa Kien ( Japanese 柳沢淇園 , real first name: Rikyo ( 里恭 ) further stage name : Chikkei ( 竹渓 ) Gyokkei ( 玉桂 ); born the 30th August 1703 in Edo . D 6. October 1758 in Kōriyama ) was a Japanese painter and co-founder of the Nanga movement in Japan.

life and work

Yanagisawa's father was one of the most important followers of the Yanagisawa , the wealthy and influential princes of Kōriyma . Yanagisawa Kien first lived in Edo , where he became interested in painting at the age of nine. He began his training with a painter from the Kanō School , but then became a student of Watanabe Shūseki ( 渡 辺 秀 石 ; 1636–1707), a painter of the Nagasaki-e direction. He later studied Nanga painting under Gion Nankai . He developed a relationship with the Zen monks of the Ōbaku direction of Buddhism, who probably inspired him to occupy himself with Chinese painting of the Yuan and Ming times . Obviously he knew the mustard seed garden painting manual . In 1727 he moved to Kōriyama, where he stayed until the end of his life.

Yanagisawa Kien was strongly influenced by the Confucianist Ogyū Sorai , who served the ruling Yanagisawa. Kien was also an essayist and is said to have been excellent in all 16 subjects of classical education, i.e. in calligraphy , sword connoisseurship, poetry, tea ceremony , painting, smoking ceremony , etc.

Kien's specialty was bamboo. Other pictures show the influence of the strict painting of the Ming period. Only a few of his pictures have survived, but there are many forged works.

photos

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  Daikoku

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  Flowers and birds

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  Rikugien (detail)

Remarks

1. ↑ Rikugi-en is a park in Tōkyō, which was created by the founder of the Yanagisawa clan, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu (1658-1714).

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Yanagizawa Kien . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia . Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X .
• Laurance P. Roberts: Kien . In: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists . Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .

Web links

Commons : Yanagisawa Kien  - 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 Yanagisawa is the family name, Kien the first name.