Maruyama Okyo
A detailed naturalistic painter of the middle Edo period who captured the hearts of a generation 1733-1795
Maruyama Okyo was a painter of the middle and late Edo period. He was one of the founders of the Maruyama-Shijo School, the origin of painting circles in Kyoto. He was born into a peasant family in Ano Village, Tanba Province, near Kyoto. His given name was Iwajiro at first and later changed to Mondo. He usually signed his paintings Okyo, but he also used Kaun, Settei, and Senrei among others.
To study painting, he became a pupil of Ishida Yutei, who belonged to the Kano School. He later received influence from Watanabe Shiko and proceeded to develop his realistic style. In this way he became involved in making stereoscopes to earn his living.
Stereoscopes are a novelty item in which the viewer looks through two convex lenses to view two separate images painted for each eye, which the brain combines into a single three-dimensional image. To paint two similar images with the appropriate perspective, Okyo, it is thought, had to learn the Western theory of perspective.
At the age of 40, Okyo reached the peak of his career. While receiving patronage from Yujo (the head priest of Enman-in, Mii Temple) and the wealthy Mitsui merchant family, he continued to produce numerous works one after another.
He established a unique style that skillfully fuses smooth lines and naturalistic elements, and he applied his art primarily to screens, sliding doors, and hanging scrolls. His most outstanding works are Pine Trees in Snow (a pair of folding screens, national treasure), Hozu River (a pair of folding screens, important cultural property), and Cranes (a pair of folding screens).
Among his many pupils were his son Ozui, Nagasawa Rosetsu, Matsumura Gekkei, Komai Genki, and Yamaguchi Soken. He built the foundation for the Maruyama-Shijo School, which led Kyoto painting circles up until the Meiji period.
Related People, Things and Events
Books
Related Works
Works by disciples of Maruyama Okyo
Past Exhibitions
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Institutions Holding Related Materials
香川県琴平町に立つ金刀比羅宮の書院には、応挙の障壁画が残る。
兵庫県香美町の真言宗の寺院。応挙とその一門が手がけた障壁画が残される。
国宝「雪松図屏風」をはじめ、応挙の作品、円山派の作品を多く所蔵する。
The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum is founded on November 3, 1983, in Hachioji, a thriving university town in the western suburbs of the Japanese capital. Priding itself as “a museum creating bridges around the world” to facilitate the exchange of different cultures, our museum has forged cordial relations with art museums and cultural institutes in 32 countries and territories to date. We do so by bringing the world’s finest works of art to Japan while reciprocating in kind by introducing the finest Japanese treasures to the world through special exhibitions that showcase their beauty and wonder through a unique new set of prisms and perspectives. Our museum possesses some 30,000 pieces of artworks from various periods and cultures including Japanese, Eastern and Western works, ranging from paintings, prints, photography, sculptures, ceramics and lacquer ware to armor, swords and medallions. Especially noteworthy is its outstanding collection of Western oil paintings that spans a five-hundred-year period from the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, and Romanticism to Impressionism and contemporary art, as well as its exceptional collection of photographic masterpieces that can give an overview of the history of photography from the birth of the photograph to the present age.
The National Diet Library (NDL), founded in 1948, is the library which belongs to the Diet. The NDL assists the activities of the National Diet. The Library collects and conserves materials and information both from Japan and abroad, serving as a foundation of knowledge and culture and providing library services to administrative and judicial entities and Japanese citizens.
As Japan’s representative museum, Tokyo National Museum collects, preserves, displays, and researches the cultural properties of Asia with a focus on Japan, and also provides educational programs.
Kyoto National Museum collects, preserves, displays, researches and provides educational programs focusing on cultural properties from Heian- through to Edo- period Japan, when the capital was located there.
External Links
デジタルミュージアムでは、応挙やその一門が描いた障壁画などを閲覧できる。特に「孔雀の間」「芭蕉の間」「山水の間」では360度見渡すことができ、臨場感がある。
コレクションは国宝7件、重要文化財87件、重要美術品94件を数える。応挙の作品・重文「藤花図」などが見られる。
References
- 日立デジタル平凡社,平凡社
- 平凡社
- 樋口一貴 著,東京美術
- 安村敏信 著,東京美術
- 平凡社