, born
Maruyama Masataka, was a
JapaneseThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
artist active in the late 18th century. He moved to
Kyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, during which he studied artworks from
ChineseChinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...
,
JapaneseJapanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
and Western sources. A personal style of Western
naturalismNaturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...
mixed with Eastern decorative design emerged, and Ōkyo founded the Maruyama school of painting. Although many of his fellow artists criticized his work as too slavishly devoted to natural representation, it proved a success with laymen.
Early career
Ōkyo was born into a farming family in Ano-o, in present-day
Kameoka, Kyotois a city located in Kyoto, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 93,323 and a density of 415 persons per km². The total area is 224.90 km². It is known as one of Japan's foggiest cities....
. As a teenager, he moved to
Kyotois a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
and joined the townspeople (
chōninwas a social class that emerged in Japan during the early years of the Tokugawa period. The majority of chōnin were merchants, but some were craftsmen, as well. Nōmin were not considered chōnin...
) class. He apprenticed for a toy shop, where he painted the faces onto dolls. The shop began selling European stereoscopes, novelties that when looked into presented the illusion of a three-dimensional image. It was Ōkyo's first look at Western-style
perspectivePerspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...
, and in 1767 he tried his hand at one of the images. He created
Harbour View, a small picture in single-point perspective. Ōkyo soon mastered the techniques of drawing stereoscope images .
Ōkyo decided to pursue a career as an artist. He first studied under Ishida Yūtei, a member of the
Kanō schoolThe ' is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting until the Meiji period.It was founded by Kanō Masanobu , a contemporary of Sesshū and student of Shūbun...
and ultimately a bigger influence on Ōkyo than the stereoscope images. During these formative years, Ōkyo studied Chinese painting as well. He particularly admired the works of Ch'ien Hsüan, a 13th century painter known for his detailed flower drawings, and Ch'iu Ying, a 16th century figure painter. In fact, the "kyo" in Ōkyo's name was adopted in tribute to Ch'ien Hsüan. Ōkyo even briefly adopted the Chinese practice of signing his name with one character, so for a time he was known as Ōkyo En. He studied the works of Shen Nan-p'in, a Chinese artist who lived in Nagasaki from 1731 to 1733 and painted images of flowers. However, Ōkyo did not like the artist's treatment of
proportionIn mathematics, two variable quantities are proportional if one of them is always the product of the other and a constant quantity, called the coefficient of proportionality or proportionality constant. In other words, are proportional if the ratio \tfrac yx is constant. We also say that one...
, preferring the works of Watanabe Shikō. He also studied
MingThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
and
Ch'ingThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
paintings. Perhaps most significantly, Ōkyo eagerly studied any Western paintings or prints he could find.
Success
Ōkyo's first major commission came in 1768 from Yūjō, abbot of a temple in
ŌtsuŌtsu, or Otsu, may refer to:* Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan** Ōtsu Station, a railway station on the Tōkaidō Main Line ** Ōtsu incident, an assassination attempt on Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia...
called Enman'in. Over the next three years, Ōkyo painted
The Seven Misfortunes and Seven Fortunes, a depiction of the results of both bad and good karma. The three scrolls total about 148 ft (45 m) in length. Ōkyo tried to find models for the people depicted in them, even for the shocking images such as a man being ripped in two by frightened bulls. His introduction to the work states that he believed that people needed to see reality, not imaginary images of Nirvana or Hell, if they were to truly believe in Buddhist principles.
Other painters were critical of Ōkyo's style. They found it to be overly concerned with physical appearances, alleging that he was too beholden to the real world and produced undignified works. Nevertheless, his style proved popular with the public, and commissions came in to do Western-style
landscapeLandscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s, decorative screens, and nudes. He did life drawings and used them for material in his paintings. In fact, Ōkyo was probably the first Japanese artist to do life drawings from nude models. The subject was still considered pornographic in Japan. During his career he painted for wealthy merchants, the
shogunateThe Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
, even the
emperorThe Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...
.
The public's perception of Ōkyo's skill is evident in a legend recounted by Van Briessen. The story goes that a
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
commissioned Ōkyo to paint a "ghost image" of a lost family member. Once the work was completed, the ghost image came off the painting and flew away.
Maruyama school
Success prompted Ōkyo to start a school in Kyoto, where he could teach his new style. He was a talented art teacher, and he soon took on many students. He taught them to rely on nature to render images in a realistic picture of light, shadow, and forms. The school grew popular, and branches soon appeared in other locations, including
Osakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. Much of the school's work is today preserved at Daijō-ji, a temple in
KasumiKasumi is a Japanese given name. It literally translates to "Mist".Places:* Kasumi, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan* Kasumigaseki , a district in downtown TokyoPeople:...
(Hyōgo Prefecture). Noteworthy pupils include Ōkyo's son, Maruyama Ōzui,
Nagasawa Rosetsuwas one of the best pupils of Maruyama Ōkyo who incorporated aspects of Western realism into Japanese themes. In his work, which is reminiscent of earlier Zen painting, while the moon is left white, the night sky, mountains, and pine trees are depicted with gradations of India ink. His work was...
, and
Matsumura GoshunMatsumura Goshun , sometimes also referred to as Matsumura Gekkei , was a Japanese Painter of the Edo Period and founder of the Shijō school of painting...
.
Goshun joined Ōkyo's school in 1787. That year, the Maruyama school took a commission to paint screens for Daijō-ji. Later that year, Kyoto suffered a devastating fire, so Ōkyo and Goshun moved into a temple called Kiunin. The two became fast friends, and Ōkyo refused to regard their relationship as that of a teacher and student. Goshun later went on to found the
Shijō schoolThe Shijō school , also known as the Maruyama-Shijō school, was an offshoot school of the Maruyama school of Japanese painting founded by Maruyama Ōkyo, and his former student Matsumura Goshun in the late 18th century. This school was one of several that made up the larger Kyoto school...
.
Style
Ōkyo's painting style merged a tranquil version of Western
naturalismNaturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...
with the Eastern decorative painting of the
Kanō schoolThe ' is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting until the Meiji period.It was founded by Kanō Masanobu , a contemporary of Sesshū and student of Shūbun...
. His works show a Western understanding of highlight and shadow. His realism differed from previous Japanese schools in its devotion to nature as the ultimate source with no regard for sentiment. Ōkyo's intricately detailed plant and animal sketches show a great influence from European nature drawings. An album of leaves in the Nishimura Collection in Kyoto (now in handscroll form) depicts several animals and plants, each labeled as if in European guidebook.
Still, Ōkyo's works remain Japanese. Unlike European painting, Ōkyo's images have very few midtones. Moreover, he follows the Eastern tradition in depicting objects with very little setting; often his pictures feature a single subject on a plain background. The result is a more immediate naturalism with a decorative and reflective feel. This was achieved through skillful brush handling; Ōkyo painted with a broad, flat brush, which he would load with more paint on one side. This created broad strokes that vary in paint coverage. Nature was not his only subject; many works by Ōkyo depict normal scenes from life in Kyoto's commercial area.
His
Geese Alighting on Water, painted at Enman'in,
ŌtsuŌtsu, or Otsu, may refer to:* Ōtsu, Shiga, Japan** Ōtsu Station, a railway station on the Tōkaidō Main Line ** Ōtsu incident, an assassination attempt on Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia...
in 1767, is an early example of his mature style. The subject is treated as a part of nature; nothing philosophical is implied as had been done with such imagery in the East Asian tradition. Likewise,
Kingfisher and Trout, painted in 1769, features a bird near the top of the image, waiting for a fish. The trout swims under a large rock near the center. Bird, fish, and stone all appear as they do in nature, creating a matter-of-fact, comprehensible, and natural-looking piece. Later in his oeuvre,
Pine Trees in Snow, executed in 1773 for the wealthy
Mitsui familyThe Mitsui family is one of the most powerful families of merchants and industrialists in Japan....
, is realistic despite being in the Japanese idiom of ink on a gold background. The two six-panel screens show tree bark and pine needles separated by differing brush strokes, and the white snow seems to weigh down the branches. The bark is painted in the
tsuketate technique, which uses no outlines, just dark and light shades to create the illusion of volume.
Hozu Rapids, painted in 1795, is one of Ōkyo's later works. On two eightfold screens it depicts a tree and a cluster of rocks with some dragons. The work thus shows Ōkyo's ability to render the natural elements in a convincingly realistic fashion. However, the dragons, according to art critics such as Paine, demonstrate a weakness; they are treated academically, thus losing their grand, legendary essence.