was a Japanese

Japanese people

The 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...

 painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 of the Rinpa school.

Early life

Kōrin was born in Kyoto

Kyoto

is 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:...

, to a wealthy merchant who had a taste for the arts and is said to have given his son some elementary instruction therein. Kōrin also studied under Soken Yamamoto, the Kanō school

Kano school

The ' 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...

, Tsunenobu and Gukei Sumiyoshi, and was greatly influenced by his predecessors Hon'ami Kōetsu

Honami Koetsu

was a Japanese craftsman, potter, lacquerer, and calligrapher, whose work is generally considered to have inspired the founding of the Rinpa school of painting.-Early life:...

 and Tawaraya Sōtatsu

Tawaraya Sotatsu

was a Japanese artist and also the co-founder of the Rimpa school of Japanese painting. Sōtatsu began to work as a fan-painter in Kyoto. Later, he rose to work for the court as a producer of fine decorated papers for calligraphy. He was highly influenced by Kyoto’s courtly culture...

.

Career

Kōrin broke away from all tradition, and developed a very original and quite distinctive style of his own, both in painting and in the decoration of lacquer. The characteristic of this is a bold impressionism, which is expressed in few and simple highly idealized forms, with an absolute disregard for both realism and the usual conventions. In lacquer, Kōrin's use of white metals and of mother-of-pearl is notable; but herein he followed Koyetsu. Korin died at the age of fifty-nine. His chief pupils were Kagei Tatebayashi and Shiko Watanabe, but the present knowledge and appreciation of his work are largely due to the efforts of Sakai Hōitsu

Sakai Hoitsu

was a Japanese painter of the Rimpa school. He is famous for reviving the style and popularity of Ogata Kōrin, and for creating a number of reproductions of Kōrin's work.-Family background:...

, who brought about a revival of Kōrin's style.

An artist of the Rinpa school, he is particularly known for his gold-foil folding screens

Byobu

are Japanese folding screens made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting and calligraphy, used to separate interiors and enclose private spaces, among other uses.- History :...

. A screen in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

 depicting Matsushima

Matsushima

is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands covered in pines – hence the name – and is ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan....

 is a particularly famous work, and his "Irises" in the Nezu Museum is a National Treasure of Japan

National treasures of Japan

National Treasures are the most precious of Japan's Tangible Cultural Properties, as determined and designated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs...

.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Kōrin, OCLC

OCLC

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...

/WorldCat

WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...

encompasses roughly 200+ works in 300+ publications in 8 languages and 3,000+ library holdings.

• 光琳畫譜 (1801)
• 光琳百圖 (1868)
• 光琳 (1940)
• 国宝紅白梅図屏風 (1955)
• 光琳 (1965)