Page 326 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Sesshu had been signally honored, was near century but claimed ultimate descent from one sented in the collections available to the artist.
Ningbo (then called Siming). When the Ashi- Muneshige from the Izu Peninsula, identified Motonobu's important innovations can best
kaga clan established its shogunate in 1336, as a retainer to no less a personage than Mina- be seen in the fusuma panels now mounted as
Kyoto became shogunal as well as imperial moto no Yoritomo (1147-1199), founder of the hanging scrolls, also painted for Daisen-in of
capital, and what power remained with the five Kamakura shogunate. The father of the Daitoku-ji, circa 1510, and representing birds
official Zen temples at Kamakura was dissi- "founder" of the Kano school is listed as Kage- and flowers in a landscape (cat. 236). Although
pated, with a corresponding rise to great power nobu, a retainer to the Imagawa daimyo family they may be descended from Sesshu's folding
of the Gozan temples of Kyoto, especially Sho- of Izu and reputedly a painter. The first con- screens of the same subject (cat. 233), the
koku-ji. As the Kyoto Gozan declined with the temporary or near contemporary references screens show the systematic use of all means
decline of the Ashikaga shogunate, ink painting contain no mention of these forebears, but available to produce a highly decorative and dra-
in Kamakura experienced a modest revival. begin with Kano Masanobu (1434-1530), credit- matic result. Many writers have emphasized the
Kenko Shokei (act. c. 1478-1506), better ing him with at least six portraits and three sets Chinese sources of Motonobu's art, but he was
known as Kei Shoki (Secretary Kei, of Kencho-ji of Buddhist icons, but only one possible ink equally adept at opaque color in the Tosa style,
in Kamakura) was the most gifted and signifi- painting, an Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang. and artful in the placement of fragments of
cant painter of this region at this time. His The only surviving example with a reasonably landscape — all the while emphasizing a firm,
early training drew upon the Chinese painting firm attribution is a representation of Hotei, in even "center-line" brush stroke in dark ink to
collections in Kamakura. In 1478 he went to ink and color on paper, with an inscription by clearly define the profiles of trees, rocks, and
Kyoto, where he studied under Geiami; he Keijo Shurin, the Zen monk who inscribed mountains. Even the pine needles are organized
returned to Kamakura in 1480, made a second Sesshu's hatsuboku landscape of 1495. Hotei coolly, in a regular decorative pattern. This con-
trip to Kyoto in 1493, and is known to have is a sound, professional work, but the minimal sistency of practice was most suitable for work-
been again in Kamakura in 1499. Geiami's mas- cliff and rock elements reveal no great ink tech- shop production, and it is no wonder that the
terpiece of 1480, Viewing a Waterfall (cat. 234), nique. The famous Zhou Maoshu Admiring Kano school swept the field of decorative paint-
was the master's parting gift to Kei Shoki. Lotus is a delicate and atmospheric landscape, ing and provided a well-developed starting point
Three highly prestigious Zen monks inscribed but the seal is uncertain and the work is closer for the flowering of decorative painting in the
the painting, Osen Keisan noting the pupil's in style to Geiami and Kei Shoki. In short, we reunified Japan of the Momoyama and Edo
technical progress, one of the others mention- have little way of knowing what Masanobu's periods.
ing that Geiami had helped his pupil gain style was, and certainly insufficient evidence to
entrance to the shogunal collections. It should establish him as the innovative founder of the
not surprise, then, that Kei Shoki's Eight Views Kano style.
of Xiao and Xiang (cat. 235), is heavily indebted That title belongs to Kano Motonobu (1476-
to Geiami, though with three distinctive differ- 1559), whose managerial and diplomatic skills
ences. Kei Shoki's ink tonality is lighter. The and eclectic painting talent combined to estab- CERAMICS
profiles of rocks, cliffs and cavelike formations lish a Kano school on a remarkably broad foun-
were deliberately and somewhat geometrically dation. Like his father, Masanobu, he was a Rough rather than smooth. Asymmetrical
contorted and outlined with dark ink in the professional and was also appointed painter to rather than symmetrical. Monochromatic and
manner of Sesshu. Finally and most individ- the shogun. Marriage to a daughter of the Tosa earthy rather than polychrome and finished.
ually, the dots representing lichen or moss were family, hereditary masters of the traditional The contrast between standard Japanese and
made sharper and darker and more widely sepa- yamato-e style favored by the imperial court, Chinese ceramics of the late fifteenth century
rated than usual. The resulting almost musical made Motonobu heir to that lineage. Temples, could not be greater. Some of the difference can
pizzicato creates a lively and distinctive mood. shrines, daimyo, the shogun, and the court be attributed to the desperately depressed
Only one later master, perhaps following the commissioned numerous works to be supplied character of the Japanese economy and society
Kei Shoki manner in part, achieved high fame: by his flourishing workshop. His Tosa manner during and following the Onin War (1467-
Sesson Shukei (c. 1504-1589), from northern can be seen in two signed painted wood panels 1477), centered at first in and around the
Honshu, is reputed to have lived in both Kama- (ema, votive offering) of horses and grooms, capital, Kyoto, and then spreading into the
kura and Odawara (cultural centers of the Kanto probably dating from about 1525, as well as in provinces as former vassals overthrew their
area in his time), and to have served the narrative handscrolls of temple histories. appointed lords and fought each other. Notwith-
increasingly independent local daimyo of north- Motonobu's renditions of standard Zen standing the munificent expenditures of Yoshi-
eastern Honshu. His style was personal, even figural subjects, such as The Flight of the Sixth masa (1436-1490, shogun 1443-1473) on his
willful, but he was active as a painter largely Patriarch and Xiangyan Attaining Enlighten- unrivaled collection of Chinese art and his dis-
after 1550. ment (cat. 222, 223), painted about 1513 for the armingly simple but elegant Silver Pavilion
hojo (abbot's quarters) of the Daisen-in of Dai- (Ginkaku-ji, begun 1483) in the Higashiyama
toku-ji, were dominated by the decorative suburb of Kyoto, the real state of the country is
The Kano Lineage
requirements of wall painting. Clouds, hereto- more realistically depicted in the "samurai
The dominant tradition after 1500 was Kyoto- fore painted as part of the background, were Westerns" of modern cinema, directed with
based, embodied in one of the longest-lived brought into the foreground to provide blank knowing accuracy by Kurosawa and Mizoguchi.
"family practices" in the history of art, the space as a contrast with the complexities of the The taste for Chinese ceramics, especially cela-
Kano school, which maintained its leading posi- Chinese style rocks and small-scale figures. The dons and temmoku (C: jian ware) tea bowls, as
tion until Japan entered modern times with the latter were rendered in sharp, angular strokes, well as for elegant bronze and brass containers,
Meiji Restoration (1868). The family lineage reflecting the heavy influence of the Southern was common among the newly powerful mili-
began to be recorded only in the seventeenth Song master Liang Kai, who was well repre- tary chiefs and the always powerful high Bud-

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