Yokoyama Taikan

Yokoyama Taikan with medals

Taikan's residence, now a museum

"Floating Lanterns"

Yokoyama Taikan ( Japanese 横山 大 観 , actually Sakai Hidezō , 酒井 秀 歳 or Hidematsu 酒井 秀 松 ; born November 2, 1868 in Mito ; died February 26, 1958 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese painter, one of the first to deal with the Development of a modern "Japanese style" - Nihonga .

life and work

Yokoyama was born into the Sakai family, who had served the Mito-Tokugawa for generations, who now struggled with the sake trade after the Meiji Restoration . When he was out of childhood, he called himself Yokoyama to get his mother's surname and changed his first name to Hidemaro (秀 麿). He attended the "Language School for English" founded in 1885 to learn the English language, but at the same time took lessons in drawing under Watanabe Bunzaburō (渡 辺 文 三郎; 1853－1936).

When Yokoyama finished school in 1887, he learned that the Tokyo Art School was about to open and decided to study traditional painting under Yūki Masaaki (結 城 正 明; 1840–1904). When the school opened, he was accepted into the first class. He now studied under Hashimoto Gahō and received support from the school's director, Okukura Tenshin , who drove him to further develop classical Japanese painting and to whom he remained connected throughout his life. In 1893 Yokoyama graduated with the painting "Village children watch an old monkey" (村童 観 猿 翁, Sondō kan en-ō), a first example of the new style of painting.

In 1885 Yokoyama became an assistant teacher at the Kyōto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. He used his stay there to copy old pictures and, together with Hishida Shunsō , to visit the monasteries in the vicinity of Kyoto. In 1896 he returned to Tokyo and took a position as assistant teacher at his training facility.

In the same year the "Painting Society Japan" (日本 絵 画 協会, Nihon kaiga kyōkai) was founded. At their first exhibition he received a prize for his picture "Selflessness" (無 我, Muga; 1897) and two years later for "listening to the sermon" (聴 講, Chōkō). - When in 1898 Tenshin angry left the art school, he followed him and participated in the establishment of Tenshin's private art school, the Nihon Bijutsuin . His picture " Qu Yuan " (1898,), which was shown at the school's first exhibition, made him known immediately. Broadly speaking, it depicts the ousted Qu, obviously alluding to the Tenshin leaving his place of work.

Together with Shunsō, Taikan developed a style that combined traditional painting with elements from European painting. In doing so, he transformed the usual clear contours in the image representation into blurred outlines. This way of painting, called morotai (朦朧 体), met with criticism in the Japanese art scene.

In 1903 Yokoyama visited India with Shunso. The following year he and Shunso visited the United States and Europe, only returning in 1905. - In 1906, when the Nihon Bijutsuin had to give up its location in Tōkyō, he and Shunsō, Shimomura Kanzan and others went to Izura in Ibaraki Prefecture , where Tenshin owned a piece of land. There the group continued to paint despite the poor economic situation. At the first state art exhibition organized by the Ministry of Culture in 1907, Yokoyama showed “Floating Lanterns” (流 燈, Ryūtō; 1909), “Mountain Path” (山路, Yamaji; 1911;) and his version of the “Eight Views of Xiāoxiāng” (1912 ), the thematic model for the Eight Views of Lake Biwa . After that he occasionally acted as a juror for the exhibition; it was the time when his recognition began.

When Tenshin died in 1913, Yokoyama lost his position as a juror at the Bunten in 1914. For his part, he and his friends tried to reactivate the Nihon Bijutsuin, if only as an exhibition venue. He then remained the driving force behind this institution until his death.

In 1929 Yokoyama became a member of Salon France. In 1930 he traveled as a delegate to the Japanese Art Exhibition in Rome. In 1931 he took part in the exhibition of Japanese painting in Berlin. In the same year he became an artist at the Imperial Court (帝室 芸 妓院), in 1935 a member of the Akademie der Künste , and in 1937 he was one of the first to receive the newly founded cultural order . He created the exhibition poster for the exhibition of Old Japanese Art in Berlin in 1939 .

Yokoyama's residence on the edge of the Shinobazu pond in Ueno is now open to the public as a memorial site with some pictures of him and his library.

Yokoyama's world of images

Yokoyama cannot be fixed to one consistent style. He began as a follower of Hashimoto and under the influence of Okakura, who inspired him to further develop traditional Japanese painting. This meant the inclusion of European painting styles with the use of geometrical perspective and shading. The choice of topics remains initially Japanese-Chinese-historical or limited to landscapes and the format was the traditional hanging role. - In the course of time his style loosened, the topics became more varied, pictures of his living environment also emerged.

Well-known works are the hanging scroll pair “Butcher and Prince” (遊刃有余 地, Yūjin yochi ari), the 40 m long picture scroll “Strudel des Lebens” (生 々 流 転, Seisei rods; 55 × 4070 cm); “Waterfall” (瀧, Taki), “Cherry blossom at night” (夜 桜, Yo-sakura;), “Flowers in the field” (野 の 花, No no hana).

In the 1930s, Yokoyama was for a strong Japan and thus also for the new partners in Europe, Italy and Germany. So was Mussolini , a painting entitled "Hollyhock" (立葵, Tachi aoi), and Hitler the image "Fuji at dawn" (旭日霊峰, Asahi Reiho). - During the years of the Pacific War and also after the war, many pictures were made with Mount Fuji as a symbol for the immortal Japan.

photos

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  Muga, 1897

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  Qu Yuan, 1898

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  Vortex of Life (small section)

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  Mountains, 1928

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  Mount Fuji

Remarks

1. ↑ Reihō, something like "holy peak", is another name for Mount Fuji.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Owned by the Tokyo National Museum .
2. ↑ Owned by Itsukushima Shrine .
3. ↑ In the collection of the Taiwanese farmer Ji Yong-ji (磯 吉 永; 1886–1972), a breeder of an important new rice variety and an art lover.
4. ↑ In the possession of Eisei Bunko .
5. ^ In the possession of the Ōkura Shūkokan .

literature

• Nagoya City Art Museum (Ed.): Yokoyama Taikan-ten . Exhibition catalog, 1990.
• Goto, Shigeki: Yokoyama Taikan . Gendai Nihon bijutsu zenshu 2. Shuei-sha, 1971.
• Seiroku A. Noma, Meredith T. Weatherby, Editors: Yokoyama Taikan, 1868-1958 . Publisher Tuttle Co, Rutland, VT, First edition 1956.
• Eczacibaşi Sanat Ansiklopedisi (German: Ezacibaşi Kunstenzyklopädie ) Editor: Yem Yayin (Yapi-Endüstri Merkezi Yayinlari), page 1944, 3rd edition, 1997 ISBN 975-7438-54-5 (Turkish).

Web links

Commons : Yokoyama Taikan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Seisei rod representation
• Yokoyama Taikan Memorial, Japanese / English
• Adachi Museum Japan: Information about the artist ( Memento from May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English)

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