Japan Art and Nature
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The artist Sōami (art above) is highly regarded despite the passage of time. His birth isn’t fully known. However, it is widely believed that he passed away in 1525.
Sōami was influenced by the Southern School (Chinese Art) and Zen Buddhism. Accordingly, the world of high culture inspired Sōami throughout his life.
The Cleveland Museum of Art says, “Kyoto-based painter Sōami adapted the small-format Chinese album leaf and handscroll painting compositions belonging to the Ashikaga shogunate to the large-scale paintings he created for residences and Buddhist temples. As curator of the shogunal collection, Sōami would have carefully examined its Southern Song and Yuan dynasty Chinese paintings, gaining specialized knowledge of a variety of brush modes, including the soft style used for this painting.”
Kubota Beisen (1852-1906) created the stunning art piece above. He studied under Suzuki Hyakunen (1825-1891) and Kono Bairei (1844-1895). Despite this, he created a distinctive style.
He became blind in the final six years of his life.
The final art piece is by Miki Suizan (1887-1957). He studied under the acclaimed Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942) – who was connected to the art school of Maruyama-Shijō.
The British Museum says, “Little information is recorded of this ‘Nihonga’ artist, who was born in Hyogo Prefecture and studied under Takeuchi Seiho (1864-1942) in Kyoto. He exhibited at the usual government-sponsored ‘Nihonga’ exhibitions, such as the Bunten and its successor the Teiten. In 1924 he designed two sets of woodblock prints published by Sato Shotaro, one of six beauties and one of eight landscapes. All of these were included in the first Toledo Exhibition in 1930. According to Kato, he also produced a series of ‘Eight Views of Snow Viewing’ after the Pacific War.”
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