Today's Japanese Paintings
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About Japanese Paintings
Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese arts, encompassing a wide variety on genre and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the history of Japanese painting is a long history of synthesis and competition between native Japanese aesthetics and adaptation of imported ideas.
Ancient Japan
The origins of painting in Japan date well back into Japan's prehistoric period. Simple stick figures and geometric designs can be found on Jōmon period pottery and Yayoi period (300 BC – 300 AD) dotaku bronze bells. Mural paintings with both geometric and figurative designs have been found in numerous tumulus from the Kofun period (300-700 AD).
With the introduction of the Chinese writing system (kanji), Chinese modes of governmental administration and with the introduction of Buddhism in the Asuka period, many art works were imported into Japan from Korea or China, and local copies in similar styles began to be produced.
Nara period
The earliest surviving paintings from this period include the murals on the walls of the temple of Horyu-ji in Ikaruga, Nara, illustrating episodes from the life of Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and various minor deities. The style is reminiscent of Chinese paintings from the Sui dynasty or the late Sixteen Kingdoms period. However, by the mid-Nara period, paintings in the style of the Tang dynasty became very popular. These also include the wall murals in the Takamatsuzuka Tomb, dating from around 700 AD. This style evolved into the (Kara-e) genre, which remained popular through the early Heian period.
As most of the paintings in the Nara periods are religious in nature, the vast majority are by anonymous artists. A large collection of Nara period art is preserved at the Shosoin storehouse, formerly owned by Todai-ji, and now under the control of the Imperial Household Agency.
Heian and Kamakura periods
With the development of the esoteric Buddhist sects of Shingon and Tendai in 8th and 9th century Japan, religious imagery, most notably painted Mandala became predominant. Numerous versions of Mandala, especially the Diamond Realm Mandala and the Womb Realm Mandala, were created as hanging scrolls, and also as murals on the walls of temples. A noted early example is at the five-story pagoda of Daigo-ji, a temple south of Kyoto.
Muromachi period
During the 14th century, the development of the great Zen monasteries in Kamakura and Kyoto had a major impact on the visual arts. Suibokuga, an austere monochrome style of ink painting introduced from Sung and Yuan dynasty China largely replaced the polychrome scroll paintings of the previous period, although some polychrome portraiture remained – primary in the form of chinso paintings of Zen monks.Typical of such painting is the depiction by the priest-painter Kao of the legendary monk Kensu (Hsien-tzu in Chinese) at the moment he achieved enlightenment. This type of painting was executed with quick brush strokes and a minimum of detail.
Azuchi-Momoyama period
In sharp contrast to the previous Muromachi period, the Azuchi Momoyama period was characterized by a grandiose polychrome style, with extensive use of gold and silver foil, and by works on a very large scale. The Kano school, patronized by Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and their followers and gained tremendously in size and prestige. Kano Eitoku developed a formula for the creation of monumental landscapes on the sliding doors enclosing a room. These huge screens and wall paintings were commissioned to decorate the castles and palaces of the military nobility. This status continued into the subsequent Edo period, as the Tokugawa bakufu continued to promote the works of the Kano school as the officially sanctioned art for the Shogun, daimyo, and Imperial court.
Edo period
Many art historians show the Edo period as a continuation of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Certainly, during the early Edo period, many of the previous trends in painting continued to be popular; however, a number of new trends also emerged.
One very significant school which arose in the early Edo period was the Rimpa school, which used classical themes, but presented them in a bold, and lavishly decorative format. Sōtatsu in particular evolved a decorative style by re-creating themes from classical literature, using brilliantly colored figures and motifs from the natural world set against gold-leaf backgrounds. A century later, Korin reworked Sōtatsu's style and created visually gorgeous works uniquely his own.
Meiji period
During the Meiji period, Japan underwent a tremendous political and social change in the course of the westernization and modernization campaign organized by the new Meiji government. The Meiji period was marked by the division of art into competing western styles and traditional indigenous styles.
Western style painting (Yōga) was officially promoted by the government, who sent promising young artists abroad for studies, and who hired foreign artists to come to Japan to establish an art curriculum at Japanese schools.
Taisho period
The Taisho period saw the predominance of Yōga over Nihonga. After long stays in Europe, many artists (including Arishima Ikuma) returned to Japan during the Taisho period, bringing with them the techniques of impressionism and early post-impressionism. The works of Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne and Pierre Auguste Renoir influenced early Taisho period paintings. However, yōga artists in the Taisho period also tended towards eclecticism, and there was a profusion of dissident artistic movements. These included the Fusain Society (Fyuzankai) which emphasized styles of post-impressionism, especially fauvism. In 1914, the Nikakai (Second Division Society) emerged to oppose the government-sponsored Bunten Exihibition.
Showa period Japanese painting in the early Showa period was largely dominated by Yasui Sotaro and Umehara Ryuzaburo, who introduced the concepts of pure art and abstract painting to the Nihonga tradition, and thus created a more interpretative version of that genre. This trend was further developed by Leonard Foujita and the Nika Society, to encompass surrealism. To promote these trends, the Independent Art Association (Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai) was formed in 1931.
During the World War II period, government controls and censorship meant that only patriotic themes could be expressed. Many artists were recruited into the government propaganda effort, and critical non-emotional review of their works is only just beginning.
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