Japanese Painting of Ume/Plum Tree on Paper 250 $
A hand painted piece of art of a plum tree, painted with ink on paper with sign and seal of the artist - late Meiji Period. I tried to find out the name of the artist, but it is difficult to read. The painting has a real nice and sensitive touch. It is hard to find similar items like this amzing one. The condition is good - there is only some unimportant wrinkle and stain which gives the artwork that special touch of a unique piece of art. Size: ca. 23 x 27 inches. I bought it 20 years ago on an auction from a famous art collector in the Netherlands.
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KANO EISENIN MICHINOBU "Crescent Moon" 800 $
We present a Japanese Hanging Scroll of the famous painter Kano Eisenin. This is a real poetic and romantic theme in Japanese culture - Crescent Moon.
Kano Eisenin Michinobu (1730~1790) was the 6th of Kibikicho Kano-ha.
His father is Kano Furunobu, and his son is Kano Korenobu. In 1762 he was given rank of Hogen when he was 33 years old. After he had been given the estate in Kobiki-cho, he got the larger private painting school than other Kano-ha and the students were always full. In 1780, he was given the rank of Hoin. At the middle of 18th century, Michinobu felt the decay of Kano-ha because of the appearance of Nanpin-ga(from China).
Then he tried to make their way of painting stronger and Tycoon loved it. After that, Kano-ha of Kobiki-cho had the most prosperous years till the end of Edo period.
His pseudonyms are Eisenin, Hakugyokusai, etc...
Signature and Seal: Eisenin
Scroll Box = None.
Scroll end = Bone.
Technique = Handpainted on Silk.
Condition = Refer to all pictures, stain, damage in the mounting.
Size: 52cm x 181cm / 20.4" x 71.2"
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Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) & Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-69)
U K I Y O - E: Edo no hana meisho-e (1864)
Ausgestellt im Boston Museum of Fine Arts 320 $
- 「江戸の花名勝会 み 三番組」 「札乃辻浦」 「加賀の千代 嵐璃寛」（三代目）
Nishiki-e. Oban, tate-e (ca. 24,4 x 35,2 cm).
Blatt der Serie "EDO no hana meisho-e" (Blumen von Edo: Sammlung berühmter Ansichten), Titel: "NO MI Fudanotsuji-ura" .
Das Blatt wurde von verschiedenen Künstlern konzipiert: Kunisada (Toyokuni III), re. unten mit der Darstellung des Schauspielers "Arashi Rikan III" in der Rolle von "Kaga no Chiyo" und Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu), Abb. li. unten.
Sign.: Toyokuni ga, Hiroshige hitsu..
Zensur: aratame.
Dat.: 2/1864 (Jahr d. Ratte).
Verleger: Kato-ya Seibei.
Holzschneider: hori Cho.
Hinweis: Der gleiche Holzschnitt ist auch ausgestellt im Boston Museum of Fine Arts
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Japanese Hanging Scroll YOKOYAMA TAIKAN "Bamboo" 4.500 $
Rare handpainted Hanging Scroll of Japans most famous painter Yokoyama Taikan.
Yokoyama Taikan (横山 大観, November 2, 1868 – February 26, 1958) was the pseudonym of a major figure in pre-WW2 Japanese painting. He is notable for helping create the Japanese painting technique of Nihonga. His real name was Sakai Hidemaro.
Taikan was born in Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture, as the eldest son of Sakai Sutehiko, an ex-samurai family in Mito clan. He was adopted into his mother's family, from whom he received the name of "Yokoyama". With his family, he moved to Tokyo in 1878. He studied at the Tōkyō Furitsu Daiichi Chūgakkō (Hibiya High School), and was interested in the English language and in western style oil painting. This led him to study pencil drawing with a painter, Watanabe Fumisaburo. He also studied at one of the great painters, Kanō Hōgai, who was the master of Kanō school.
In 1889, Taikan enrolled in the first graduating class of the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō (the predecessor to the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), which had just been opened by Okakura Kakuzō (aka Okakura Tenshin). In school, he studied under the Kanō school artist Hashimoto Gahō. At the time, the following were his classmates and became famous artists later: Hishida Shunsō, Shimomura Kanzan, and Saigō Kogetsu.
After graduation, Taikan spent a year teaching at "Kyōto Shiritsu Bijutsu Kōgei Gakkō" (the predecessor to the Kyoto City University of Arts) in Kyoto, studying Buddhist painting. Around that time, he started to use his "Taikan" pseudonym. He returned to Tokyo in 1896 as assistant professor at the Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō. He resigned that position only a year later, when his mentor, Okakura Kakuzō (aka Okakura Tenshin), was forced to resign for political reasons, and joined Okakura in establishing the Japan Fine Arts Academy (Nihon Bijutsu-in).
After the death of his wife, Taikan traveled extensively overseas, visiting Calcutta, New York, Boston, London, Berlin and Paris.
In 1914, after his ouster from the Bunten Fine Arts Exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Yokoyama concentrated on reviving the Japan Fine Arts Academy, which had closed down upon Okakura Kakuzō's death in 1913. The annual exhibitions of the Japan Fine Arts Academy, which had the abbreviated name Inten, became one of the most important, non-governmental outlets for young talents. One of the chief sponsors of Taikan at this time was the silk merchant and art patron Hara Tomitarō.
Taikan was extremely influential in the evolution of the Nihonga technique, having departed from the traditional method of line drawing. Together with Hishida Shunsō, he developed a new style, eliminating the lines and concentrating on soft, blurred polychromes. While Yokoyama's works tended to remain faithful in general to the traditional Rimpa school style, he experimented with various techniques borrowed from Western painting methods. However, such a cutting-edge technique was severely criticized by other traditional painters. His style, which was called "Mourou-tai(Blurred style)" (which nowadays exactly depicts his painting's character), meant the lack of energy and vitality sarcastically. He later turned almost exclusively to monochrome ink paintings, and came to be known for his mastery of the various tones and shades of black. A number of his works have been classified as Important Cultural Property by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
His trip to Calcutta in 1902 was immensely important for the evolution of global Modernism, as it resulted in a seminal exchange both of technique and motif with the important early Indian Modernist Abanindranath Tagore.
In the pre-World War II era, Taikan was sent to Italy by the Japanese government as an official representative of the Japanese artistic community. Because his teacher Okakura Tenshin was a nationalist (known as a loyal philosopher in the Meiji era as well), Taikan was very much influenced by his thoughts. Consequently, he repeatedly used Mount Fuji as a motif of his paintings, and even presented them to the Imperial family. During World War II, he donated his earnings from the sales of his paintings to the national military, and this resulted in his interrogation, accused as a suspected war criminal by GHQ. In 1935, he was appointed to the Imperial Arts Academy (the forerunner of the Japan Art Academy), and in 1937, He was one of the first people to be awarded the Order of Culture when it was established in 1937. He was also awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, first class.
On 26 February 1958, Yokoyama Taikan died in Tokyo at the age of eighty-nine; his former house is now open to the public as the Yokoyama Taikan Memorial Museum. His brain is preserved in formaldehyde at the University of Tokyo Medical School.
Honours
Order of Culture (1937)
Person of Cultural Merit (1951)
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (26 February 1958, posthumous)
Order of precedence
Senior third rank (26 February 1958, posthumous)
Size: 48 x 213,3 cm / 18,8'' x 83,9''
Signature and seal: Taikan
Scroll end: wood
Handpainted on paper
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Edo Era Writings on a wide Woodblock Print
with Samurai Pictures
320 $
The size is 90 inches wide and 12 inches high. A real treasure of Edo Woodblock Print Art
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Japanese Calligraphy on Paper - Zen and Ensō 120 $
Buddhist monk Calligraphy painted in the traditional japanese way. Ink on paper, late Meiji Period. The Painting has the seal of the artist, but I cannot read his name. This item has a beautiful and sensitive touch. The writing means Zen and Ensō. The is not framed and will be shipped rolled in a tube.
Japanese calligraphy was influenced by, and influenced, Zen thought. For any particular piece of paper, the calligrapher has but one chance to create with the brush. The brush strokes cannot be corrected and even a lack of confidence will show up in the work. The calligrapher must concentrate and be fluid in execution. The brush writes a statement about the calligrapher at a moment in time. Through Zen, Japanese calligraphy absorbed a distinct Japanese aesthetic often symbolised by the ensō or circle of enlightenment.
Zen calligraphy is practiced by Buddhist monks and most shodō practitioners. To write Zen calligraphy with mastery, one must clear one's mind and let the letters flow out of themselves, not practice and make a tremendous effort. This state of mind was called the mushin (無心 "no mind state") by the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro. It is based on the principles of Zen Buddhism, which stresses a connection to the spiritual rather than the physical.
Before Japanese tea ceremonies (which are connected to Zen Buddhism), one is to look at a work of shodō to clear one's mind. This is considered an essential step in the preparation for a tea ceremony.
Ensō (円相) is a Japanese word meaning "circle" and a concept strongly associated with Zen. Ensō is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void; it can also symbolize the Japanese aesthetic itself. As an "expression of the moment" it is often considered a form of minimalist expressionist art.
Size 31,5'' x 16,5''
80cm x 42cm
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