Japanese painting is an absolutely unique movement in world art. It has existed since ancient times, but as a tradition it has not lost its popularity and ability to surprise.

Attention to traditions

The East is not only about landscapes, mountains and the rising sun. These are also the people who created his story. It is these people who have supported the tradition of Japanese painting for many centuries, developing and enhancing their art. Those who made a significant contribution to history are Japanese artists. Thanks to them, modern ones have retained all the canons of traditional Japanese painting.

Manner of execution of paintings

Unlike Europe, Japanese artists preferred to paint closer to graphics than to painting. In such paintings you will not find the rough, careless oil strokes that are so characteristic of the Impressionists. What is the graphic nature of such art as japanese trees, rocks, animals and birds - everything in these paintings is drawn as clearly as possible, with firm and confident ink lines. All objects in the composition must have an outline. Filling inside the outline is usually done with watercolors. The color is washed out, other shades are added, and somewhere the color of the paper is left. Decorativeness is precisely what distinguishes Japanese paintings from the art of the whole world.

Contrasts in painting

Contrast is another characteristic technique used by Japanese artists. This could be a difference in tone, color, or the contrast of warm and cool shades.

The artist resorts to this technique when he wants to highlight some element of the subject. This could be a vein on a plant, a separate petal, or a tree trunk against the sky. Then the light, illuminated part of the object and the shadow under it are depicted (or vice versa).

Transitions and color solutions

When painting Japanese paintings, transitions are often used. They can be different: for example, from one color to another. On the petals of water lilies and peonies you can notice a transition from a light shade to a rich, bright color.

Transitions are also used in the image of the water surface and sky. The smooth transition from sunset to dark, deepening twilight looks very beautiful. When drawing clouds, transitions from different shades and reflexes are also used.

Basic motives of Japanese painting

In art, everything is interconnected with real life, with the feelings and emotions of those involved in it. As in literature, music and other forms of creativity, there are several eternal themes in painting. These are historical subjects, images of people and nature.

Japanese landscapes come in many varieties. Often in paintings there are images of ponds - a favorite piece of furniture for the Japanese. Decorative pond, several water lilies and bamboo nearby - this is what it looks like ordinary picture 17th-18th centuries.

Animals in Japanese painting

Animals are also a frequently recurring element in Asian painting. Traditionally it is a crouching tiger or domestic cat. In general, Asians are very fond of and therefore their representatives are found in all forms of oriental art.

The world of fauna is another topic that follows japanese painting. Birds - cranes, decorative parrots, luxurious peacocks, swallows, inconspicuous sparrows and even roosters - all of them are found in the drawings of oriental masters.

Pisces is an equally relevant theme for Japanese artists. Koi carp are the Japanese version of goldfish. These creatures live in Asia in all ponds, even in small parks and gardens. Koi carp is a kind of tradition that belongs specifically to Japan. These fish symbolize struggle, determination, and achieving your goal. It’s not for nothing that they are depicted floating with the flow, always with decorative wave crests.

Japanese paintings: depiction of people

People in Japanese painting are a special theme. Artists depicted geishas, ​​emperors, warriors and elders.

Geisha are depicted surrounded by flowers, always wearing elaborate robes with many folds and elements.

Sages are depicted sitting or explaining something to their students. The image of the old scientist is a symbol of the history, culture and philosophy of Asia.

The warrior was portrayed as formidable, sometimes terrifying. The long ones were drawn in detail and looked like wire.

Usually all the details of the armor are clarified using ink. Often naked warriors are decorated with tattoos depicting an eastern dragon. It is a symbol of Japan's strength and military might.

Rulers were depicted for imperial families. Beautiful clothes and decorations in men’s hair are what such works of art abound in.

Landscapes

Traditional Japanese landscape - mountains. Asian painters have succeeded in depicting a variety of landscapes: they can depict the same peak in different colors, with a different atmosphere. The only thing that remains unchanged is the obligatory presence of flowers. Usually, along with mountains, the artist depicts some kind of plant on foreground and draws it in detail. The mountains and cherry blossoms look beautiful. And if they paint falling petals, the picture evokes admiration for its sad beauty. The contrast in the atmosphere of the picture is another wonderful quality of Japanese culture.

Hieroglyphs

Often the composition of a picture in Japanese painting is combined with writing. The hieroglyphs are arranged so that they look beautiful compositionally. They are usually drawn on the left or right of the painting. Hieroglyphs can represent what is depicted in the painting, its title, or the name of the artist.

Japan is one of the richest countries in history and culture. All over the world, the Japanese are generally considered to be pedantic people who find aesthetics in absolutely all manifestations of life. Therefore, Japanese paintings are always very harmonious in color and tone: if there are inclusions of some bright color- then only in semantic centers. Using paintings by Asian artists as an example, you can study color theory, correct representation of form using graphics, and composition. Performance technique Japanese paintings so high that it can serve as an example for working with watercolors and performing “washing” of graphic works.

Yayoi Kusama is unlikely to be able to answer what formed the basis of her career as an artist. She is 87 years old, her art is recognized throughout the world. There will soon be major exhibitions of her work in the US and Japan, but she hasn't told the world everything yet. “It’s still on its way. I'm going to create this in the future," Kusama says. She is called the most successful artist in Japan. In addition, she is the most expensive living artist: in 2014, her painting “White No. 28” was sold for $7.1 million.

Kusama lives in Tokyo and has been voluntarily staying in a mental hospital for almost forty years. Once a day she leaves its walls to paint. She gets up at three o'clock in the morning, unable to sleep and wanting to spend her time productively at work. "I'm old now, but I'm still going to create more work And best works. More than I've done in the past. My mind is full of pictures,” she says.

(Total 17 photos)

Yayoi Kusama at an exhibition of his work in London in 1985. Photo: NILS JORGENSEN/REX/Shutterstock

From nine to six, Kusama works in his three-story studio from the comfort of a wheelchair. She can walk, but is too weak. A woman works on canvas laid out on tables or fixed to the floor. The studio is full of new paintings, bright works strewn with small specks. The artist calls this "self-silencing" - endless repetition that drowns out the noise in her head.

Before the 2006 Praemium Imperiale art awards in Tokyo. Photo: Sutton-Hibbert/REX/Shutterstock

Across the street will open soon new gallery, and another museum of her art is being built north of Tokyo. In addition, two major exhibitions of her work are opening. “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” a retrospective of her 65-year career, opened at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington on February 23 and runs through May 14, before traveling to Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Cleveland. The exhibition includes 60 paintings by Kusama.

Her polka dots cover everything from Louis Vuitton dresses to buses in her hometown. Kusama's work regularly sells for millions of dollars and can be found all over the world, from New York to Amsterdam. Exhibitions of the Japanese artist's works are so popular that measures are required to prevent crowds and riots. For example, in the Hirshhorn, tickets to the exhibition are sold for a certain time in order to somehow regulate the flow of visitors.

Presentation of the joint design of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama in New York in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

But Kusama still needs outside approval. When asked in an interview whether she had achieved her goal of becoming rich and famous decades ago, she said in surprise: “When I was little, I had a very hard time convincing my mother that I wanted to become an artist. Is it really true that I'm rich and famous?

Kusama was born in Matsumoto, in the mountains of central Japan, in 1929 into a wealthy and conservative family that sold seedlings. But it was not a happy home. Her mother despised her cheating husband and sent little Kusama to spy on him. The girl saw her father with other women, and this gave her a lifelong aversion to sex.

Louis Vuitton boutique window designed by Kusama in 2012. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/BFA/REX/Shutterstock

As a child, she began experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations. The first time she saw the pumpkin, she imagined that it was talking to her. The future artist coped with the visions by creating repeating patterns to drown out the thoughts in her head. Even at such a young age, art became a kind of therapy for her, which she would later call “art medicine.”

Yayoi Kusama's work on display at the Museum contemporary art Whitney in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

Kusama's mother was strongly opposed to her daughter's desire to become an artist and insisted that the girl follow the traditional path. “She wouldn’t let me draw. She wanted me to get married,” the artist said in an interview. - She threw away my work. I wanted to throw myself under a train. Every day I fought with my mother, and therefore my mind was damaged.”

In 1948, after the end of the war, Kusama went to Kyoto to study traditional Japanese nihonga painting with strict rules. She hated this type of art.

One of the exhibits from the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

When Kusama lived in Matsumoto, she found a book by Georgia O'Keeffe and was amazed by its paintings. The girl went to the American embassy in Tokyo to find an article about O’Keefe in the directory there and find out her address. Kusama wrote her a letter and sent her some drawings, and to her surprise, American artist answered her.

“I couldn’t believe my luck! She was so kind that she responded to the sudden outburst of feelings of a modest Japanese girl whom she had never met in her life and had never even heard of,” the artist wrote in her autobiography “Infinity Net.”

Yayoi Kusama in her Louis Vuitton boutique window display in New York in 2012. Photo: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock

Despite O'Keeffe's warnings that life was very difficult for young artists in the United States, not to mention single young girls in Japan, Kusama was unstoppable. In 1957, she managed to obtain a passport and visa. She sewed dollars into her dresses to circumvent strict post-war currency controls.

The first stop was Seattle, where she held an exhibition in a small gallery. Then Kusama went to New York, where she suffered bitter disappointment. “Unlike post-war Matsumoto, New York was in every sense an evil and violent place. It turned out to be too stressful for me, and I soon became mired in neurosis.” To make matters worse, Kusama found herself in complete poverty. An old door served as her bed, and she fished fish heads and rotten vegetables from trash cans to make soup from.

Installation Infinity Mirror Room - Love Forever (“Room with infinity mirrors - love forever”). Photo: Tony Kyriacou/REX/Shutterstock

This difficult situation prompted Kusama to immerse himself in his work even more. She began creating her first paintings in the Infinity Net series, covering huge canvases (one of them was 10 meters high) with mesmerizing waves of small loops that seemed to never end. The artist herself described them as follows: “White networks enveloping the black dots of silent death against the backdrop of the hopeless darkness of nothingness.”

Installation by Yayoi Kusama at the opening of the new building of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Culture in Moscow in 2015. Photo: David X Prutting/BFA.com/REX/Shutterstock

This obsessive-compulsive repetition helped drive away the neurosis, but it did not always save. Kusama constantly suffered from bouts of psychosis and ended up in a New York hospital. Ambitious and determined, and happily accepting the role of an exotic Asian woman in a kimono, she joined the circle of influential people in the arts and associated with such recognized artists as Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol. Kusama later said that Warhol imitated her work.

Kusama soon gained a degree of fame and exhibited in crowded galleries. In addition, the artist’s fame became scandalous.

In the 1960s, when Kusama was obsessed with polka dots, she began organizing happenings in New York: she provoked people to strip naked in places such as Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, and painted their bodies with polka dots.

Pre-display at Art Basel in Hong Kong in 2013. Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA/REX/Shutterstock

Decades before the Occupy Wall Street movement, Kusama staged a happening in New York's financial district, declaring that she wanted to "destroy the men of Wall Street with polka dots." Around this time, she began to cover various objects - a chair, a boat, a stroller - with phallic-looking protuberances. “I started creating penises to cure my feelings of aversion to sex,” the artist wrote, describing how this creative process gradually turning the terrible into something familiar.

Installation "Passing Winter" at the Tate Gallery in London. Photo: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock

Kusama never married, although she had a marriage-like relationship with artist Joseph Cornell for ten years while living in New York. “I didn’t like sex, and he was impotent, so we suited each other very well,” she said in an interview with Art Magazine.

Kusama became increasingly famous for her antics: she offered to sleep with US President Richard Nixon if he would end the war in Vietnam. “Let’s decorate each other with polka dots,” she wrote to him in a letter. Interest in her art itself faded away, she found herself out of favor, and money problems began again.

Yayoi Kusama during a retrospective of her work at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012. Photo: Steve Eichner/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

News of Kusama's escapades reached Japan. They began to call her a “national disaster,” and her mother said that it would be better if her daughter died of the disease in childhood. In the early 1970s, the impoverished and failed Kusama returned to Japan. She registered in a psychiatric hospital, where she still lives, and sank into artistic obscurity.

In 1989, the Center for Contemporary Art in New York staged a retrospective of her work. This was the beginning, albeit slow, of a revival of interest in Kusama’s art. She filled a mirrored room with pumpkins for an installation that was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and had a major exhibition at MoMa in New York in 1998. This is where she once staged a happening.

At the My Eternal Soul exhibition eternal soul") V National Center art in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Over the past few years, Yayoi Kusama has become an international phenomenon. Modern gallery The Tate in London and the Whitney Museum in New York have held major retrospectives that have attracted huge crowds visitors, and its iconic polka dot pattern has become very recognizable.

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

The artist has no plans to stop working, but has begun to think about her mortality. “I don’t know how long I can survive even after death. There is a future generation that follows in my footsteps. It would be an honor for me if people enjoy looking at my work and if they are moved by my art.”

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Despite the commercialization of her art, Kusama thinks about the grave in Matsumoto - not in family crypt, she already got it from her parents - and how not to turn her into a sanctuary. “But I’m not dying yet. I think I will live another 20 years,” she says.

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Do you love Japanese painting? How much do you know about famous people? Japanese artists? Let us consider with you in this article the most famous artists Japan who created their works in the ukiyo-e (浮世絵) style. This style of painting developed from the Edo period. The hieroglyphs used to write this style 浮世絵 literally mean “pictures (images) of a changing world”, you can read more about this direction of painting

Hishikawa Moronobu(菱川師宣, 1618-1694). Considered the founder of the ukiyo-e genre, although, in fact, he is only the first master whose life has been preserved biographical information. Moronobu was born into the family of a master of fabric dyeing and embroidery with gold and silver threads and has been engaged in the family craft for a long time, so a distinctive feature of his work is the beautifully decorated clothes of beauties, giving a wonderful artistic effect.

Having moved to Edo, he first studied painting techniques on his own, and then his studies were continued by the artist Kambun.

We have reached us mainly from Moronobu's albums, in which he depicts historical and literary subjects and books with samples of kimono patterns. The master also worked in the shunga genre, and among individual works several depicting beautiful women have survived.

(鳥居清長, 1752-1815). Recognized at the end of the 18th century, the master Seki (Sekiguchi) Shinsuke (Ishibei) bore the pseudonym Torii Kiyonaga, which he took upon inheriting Torii's ukiyo-e school from Torii Kiyomitsu after the latter's death.

Kiyonaga was born into the family of bookseller Shirakoya Ishibei. The genre of bijinga brought him the greatest fame, although he began with yakusha-e. Subjects for engravings in the bijinga genre were taken from everyday life: walks, festive processions, going out into nature. Among the artist’s many works, the series “Contests of fashionable beauties from cheerful quarters”, depicting Minami, one of the “fun quarters” in the south of Edo, “12 portraits of southern beauties”, “10 types of tea shops” stand out. Distinctive feature The master was a detailed study of the background view and the use of techniques that came from the West to depict light and space.

Kiyonaga gained initial fame with the 1782 resumption of the series “Fashion Samples: Models New as Spring Leaves,” begun by Koryusai in the 1770s for the publisher Nishimurai Yohachi.

(喜多川歌麿, 1753-1806). This outstanding ukiyo-e master was significantly influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo. As a result of long-term collaboration with the latter, many albums, books with illustrations and series of engravings were published.

Despite the fact that Utamaro took subjects from the lives of simple artisans and sought to depict nature (“The Book of Insects”), fame came to him as an artist of works dedicated to the geishas of the Yoshiwara quarter (“Yoshiwara Green Houses Yearbook”).

Utamaro reached high level in expressing mental states on paper. For the first time in Japanese woodcuts he began to use bust compositions.

It was Utamaro's work that influenced the French impressionists and contributed to European interest in Japanese prints.

(葛飾北斎, 1760-1849). Hokusai's real name is Tokitaro. Probably the most widely known ukiyo-e master around the world. Throughout his career he used over thirty pseudonyms. Historians often use pseudonyms to periodize his work.

At first, Hokusai worked as a carver, whose work was limited by the artist's intentions. This fact weighed heavily on Hokusai, and he began to look for himself as an independent artist.

In 1778, he became an apprentice at the Katsukawa Shunsho studio, which specialized in yakusha-e prints. Hokusai was both a talented and very diligent student who always showed respect to his teacher, and therefore enjoyed the special favor of Shunsho. Thus, the first independent work Hokusai were in the yakusha-e genre in the form of diptychs and triptychs, and the popularity of the student equaled the popularity of the teacher. At this time, the young master had already developed his talent so much that he felt cramped within one school, and after the death of his teacher, Hokusai left the studio and studied the directions of other schools: Kano, Sotatsu (otherwise Koetsu), Rimpa, Tosa.

During this period, the artist experienced significant financial difficulties. But at the same time, his formation as a master takes place, who refuses the usual image that society demanded and searches for his own style.

In 1795, illustrations for the poetic anthology “Keka Edo Murasaki” saw the light of day. Then Hokusai painted surimono paintings, which immediately began to gain popularity, and many artists began to imitate them.

From this period, Tokitaro began to sign his works with the name Hokusai, although some of his works were published under the pseudonyms Tatsumasa, Tokitaro, Kako, Sorobek.

In 1800, the master began to call himself Gakejin Hokusai, which meant “Mad Hokusai of Painting.”

Famous series of illustrations include “36 views of Mount Fuji”, of which the most notable are “Victory Wind. Clear Day" or "Red Fuji" and "The Great Wave off Kanagawa", "100 Views of Mount Fuji", released in three albums, "Hokusai's Manga" (北斎漫画), which is called the "encyclopedia of the Japanese people". The artist put into “Manga” all his views on creativity and philosophy. "Manga" is the most important source for studying the life of Japan at that time, as it includes many cultural aspects. A total of twelve issues were published during the artist’s lifetime, and three more after his death:

* 1815 - II, III

* 1817 - VI, VII

* 1849 - XIII (after the death of the artist)

Hokusai's art influenced such European movements as Art Nouveau and French Impressionism.

(河鍋暁斎, 1831 -1889). Used the pseudonyms Seisei Kyosai, Shuransai, Baiga Dojin, and studied at the Kano school.

Unlike Hokusai, Kyosai was quite cheeky, which caused his rift with the artist Tsuboyama Tozan. After school he became an independent master, although he sometimes attended school for another five years. At that time he painted kyoga, the so-called “crazy paintings.”

Among the outstanding engraving works are the One Hundred Paintings of Kyosai. As an illustrator, Kyosai creates images for short stories and novels in collaboration with other artists.

At the end of the 19th century, Europeans often visited Japan. The artist was familiar with some of them, and several of his works are now in the British Museum.

(歌川広重, 1797-1858). He worked under the pseudonym Ando Hiroshige (安藤広重) and is known for his subtle rendering of natural motifs and natural phenomena. He painted his first painting, “Mount Fuji in the Snow,” which is now kept in the Suntory Museum in Tokyo at the age of ten. Subjects early works were based on real events happening on the streets. His famous cycles: “100 Views of Edo”, “36 Views of Mount Fuji”, “53 Tokaido Stations”, “69 Kimokaido Stations”, “100 known species Edo." Monet and the Russian artist Bilibin were greatly influenced by “The 53 Stations of the Tokaido Road,” painted after traveling along the East Coast Road, as well as “100 Views of Edo.” From the series in the kate-ga genre of 25 engravings, the most famous is the sheet “Sparrows over a snow-covered camellia.”

(歌川国貞, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国)). One of the most outstanding artists ukiyo-e.

paid special attention to kabuki actors and the theater itself - this is about 60% of all works. Also known are works in the bijinga genre and portraits of sumo wrestlers. It is known that he created from 20 to 25 thousand plots, which included 35-40 thousand sheets. He rarely turned to landscapes and warriors. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川 国芳, 1798 - 1861). Born into the family of a silk dyer. Kuniyoshi began learning to draw at the age of ten while living with the Kuninao artist family. He then continued to study with Katsukawa Shun'ei, and at the age of 13 he entered the Tokuyoni workshop to study. The first years young artist things are not going well. But after receiving an order from publisher Kagaya Kichibei for five prints for the 108 Suikoden Heroes series, things started to take off. He creates the rest of the characters in the series and then proceeds to various other works, and after fifteen years he is on par with Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kunisada.

After the 1842 ban on images theater scenes, actors, geishas and courtesans, Kuniyoshi writes his “cat” series, makes prints from the educational series for housewives and children, depicts national heroes in the “Traditions, Morals and Decency” series, and by the late 1840s - early 1850s after weakening the prohibitions, the artist returns to the theme of kabuki.

(渓斎英泉, 1790-1848). Known for his works in the bijinga genre. His best works include portraits of the okubi-e type (“ big heads"), which are considered examples of the craftsmanship of the Bunsei era (1818-1830), when the ukiyo-e genre was in decline. The artist painted many lyrical and erotic surimono, as well as a cycle of landscapes “Sixty-nine Stations of Kisokaido”, which he was unable to complete and was completed by Hiroshige.

The novelty in the depiction of bijinga was its sensuality, which was not previously seen in other artists. From his works we can understand the fashion of that time. He also published biographies of the Forty-Seven Ronin and wrote several other books, including The History of Ukiyo-e Prints (Ukiyo-e ruiko), containing biographies of artists. And in Notes of a Nameless Elder, he described himself as a depraved drunkard and former owner of a brothel in Nedzu, which burned to the ground in the 1830s.

Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信, 1724-1770). The artist's real name is Hozumi Jirobei. He is the discoverer of ukiyo-e polychrome printing. He attended the Kano School and studied painting. Then, under the influence of Shigenaga Nishimura and Torii Kiyomitsu, woodblock printing became his hobby. Engravings in two or three colors had been made since the beginning of the 18th century, and Harunobu began painting in ten colors, using three boards and combining three colors - yellow, blue and red.

stood out in the image street scenes and paintings in the shunga genre. And from the 1760s, he was one of the first to portray Kabuki actors. His works influenced E. Manet and E. Degas.

(小原古邨, 1877 - 1945). His real name is Matao Ohara. Depicted scenes from the Russo-Japanese and Sino-Japanese wars. However, after the photograph appeared, his work began to sell poorly, and he began to earn a living by teaching at school fine arts in Tokyo. In 1926, Ernest Felloza, curator of Japanese art at the Boston Museum, persuaded Ohara to return to painting, and the artist began depicting birds and flowers, and his work sold well abroad.

(伊藤若冲, 1716 - 1800). He stood out among other artists for his eccentricity and lifestyle, which consisted of friendship with many cultural and religious figures of that time. He depicted animals, flowers and birds in a very exotic form. He was very famous and accepted orders for painting screens and temple paintings.

(鳥居清信, 1664-1729). One of the most important representatives early period ukiyo-e. Despite the great influence of his teacher Hishikawa Monorobu, he became the founder of the yakusha-e genre in the depiction of posters and posters and invented his own style. The actors were depicted in special poses in the role brave heroes and were painted in
noble orange, and the villains were drawn in blue colors. To depict passion, the artist invented a special type of mimizugaki drawing - these are winding lines with alternating thin and thick strokes and combined with a grotesque image of the muscles of the limbs.

Torii Kiyonobu is the founder of the Torii dynasty of artists. His students were Torii Kiyomasu, Torii Kiyoshige I, and Torii Kiyomitsu.

Who is your favorite ukiyo-e artist?

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Hello, dear readers – seekers of knowledge and truth!

Japanese artists have a unique style, honed by generations of masters. Today we will talk about the most prominent representatives of Japanese painting and their paintings, from ancient times to modern times.

Well, let's plunge into the art of the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Birth of Art

The ancient art of painting in Japan is primarily associated with the peculiarities of writing and is therefore built on the foundations of calligraphy. The first samples include fragments of bronze bells, dishes, and household items found during excavations. Many of them were painted with natural paints, and research gives reason to believe that the products were made earlier than 300 BC.

A new round of art development began with the arrival in Japan. Images of deities of the Buddhist pantheon, scenes from the life of the Teacher and his followers were applied to emakimono - special paper scrolls.

Predominance religious themes in painting can be traced in medieval Japan, namely from the 10th to the 15th centuries. The names of the artists of that era, alas, have not survived to this day.

In the period of the 15th-18th centuries, a new time begins, characterized by the appearance of artists with developed individual style. They designated the vector further development fine arts.

Bright representatives of the past

Tense Xubun (early 15th century)

In order to become an outstanding master, Xiubun studied the writing techniques of China's Song artists and their works. Subsequently, he became one of the founders of painting in Japan and the creator of sumi-e.

Sumi-e – artistic style, which is based on drawing with ink, which means one color.

Xubun did a lot to new style took root in artistic circles. He taught art to other talents, including future famous painters, for example Sesshu.

Xiubun's most popular painting is called "Reading in a Bamboo Grove."

"Reading in the Bamboo Grove" by Tense Xubun

Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610)

He became the creator of a school named after himself - Hasegawa. At first he tried to follow the canons of the Kano school, but gradually his individual “handwriting” began to be traced in his works. Tohaku was guided by Sesshu graphics.

The basis of the work was simple, concise, but realistic landscapes with simple names:

• "Pines";
• "Maple";
• "Pine trees and flowering plants."

"Pines" by Hasegawa Tohaku

Brothers Ogata Korin (1658-1716) and Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743)

The brothers were excellent craftsmen of the 18th century. The eldest, Ogata Korin, devoted himself entirely to painting and founded the rimpa genre. He avoided stereotypical images, preferring the impressionistic genre.

Ogata Korin painted nature in general and flowers in the form of bright abstractions in particular. His brushes belong to the paintings:

• "Plum blossom red and white";
• "Waves of Matsushima";
• "Chrysanthemums".

"Waves of Matsushima" by Ogata Korin

The younger brother, Ogata Kenzan, had many pseudonyms. Although he was engaged in painting, he was famous more as a wonderful ceramist.

Ogata Kenzan mastered many techniques for creating ceramics. He was distinguished non-standard approach, for example, he created plates in the form of a square.

His own painting was not distinguished by splendor - this was also his peculiarity. He loved to put scroll-like calligraphy or excerpts from poetry on his items. Sometimes they worked together with their brother.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

He created in the style of ukiyo-e - a kind of woodcut, in other words, engraving painting. During his entire career, he changed about 30 names. His most famous work is “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” thanks to which he became famous outside his homeland.

"The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" by Hokusai Katsushika

Hokusai began to work especially hard after the age of 60, which brought good results. Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir were familiar with his work, and to a certain extent it influenced the work of European masters.

Ando Hiroshige (1791-1858)

One of greatest artists 19th century. He was born, lived, and worked in Edo, continued the work of Hokusai, and was inspired by his works. The way he depicted nature is almost as impressive as the number of works themselves.

Edo is the former name of Tokyo.

Here are some figures about his work, which are represented by a series of paintings:

• 5.5 thousand – the number of all engravings;
• “100 Views of Edo;
• "36 views of Fuji";
• "69 stations of Kisokaido";
• "53 stations of Tokaido."

Painting by Ando Hiroshige

Interestingly, the eminent Van Gogh painted a couple of copies of his engravings.

Modernity

Takashi Murakami

An artist, sculptor, clothing designer, he earned a name already at the end of the 20th century. In his work, he follows fashion trends with classic elements, and draws inspiration from anime and manga cartoons.

Painting by Takashi Murakami

The works of Takashi Murakami are considered a subculture, but at the same time they are incredibly popular. For example, in 2008, one of his works was bought at auction for more than 15 million dollars. At one time, the modern creator worked together with the fashion houses Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

Quiet Ashima

A colleague of the previous artist, she creates modern surreal paintings. They depict views of cities, streets of megalopolises and creatures as if from another universe - ghosts, evil spirits, alien girls. In the background of paintings you can often notice pristine, sometimes even frightening nature.

Her paintings reach large sizes and are rarely limited to paper media. They are transferred to leather and plastic materials.

In 2006, as part of an exhibition in the British capital, a woman created about 20 arched structures that reflected the beauty of the nature of the village and city, day and night. One of them decorated a metro station.

Hey Arakawa

The young man cannot be called simply an artist in the classical sense of the word - he creates installations that are so popular in the art of the 21st century. The themes of his exhibitions are truly Japanese and touch on friendly relations, as well as work by the whole team.

Hei Arakawa often participates in various biennales, for example, in Venice, exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art in his homeland, and deservedly receives various kinds of awards.

Ikenaga Yasunari

Modern painter Ikenaga Yasunari managed to combine two seemingly incompatible things: the life of modern girls in portrait form and traditional Japanese techniques from ancient times. In his work, the painter uses special brushes, natural pigmented paints, ink, and charcoal. Instead of the usual linen - linen fabric.

Painting of Ikenaga Yasunari

A similar technique of contrasting the depicted era and appearance The heroines give the impression that they have returned to us from the past.

Popular in lately in the online community, a series of paintings about the complexities of a crocodile’s life were also created by the Japanese cartoonist Keigo.

Conclusion

So, Japanese painting began around the 3rd century BC, and has changed a lot since then. The first images were applied to ceramics, then Buddhist motifs began to predominate in the arts, but the names of the authors have not survived to this day.

In the modern era, masters of the brush acquired more and more individuality, created different directions, schools. Today's fine arts is not limited to traditional painting - installations, caricatures, artistic sculptures, and special structures are used.

Thank you very much for your attention, dear readers! We hope you found our article useful, and stories about life and creativity the brightest representatives art allowed us to get to know them better.

Of course, it is difficult to talk about all the artists from antiquity to the present in one article. Therefore, let this be the first step towards understanding Japanese painting.

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