Page 394 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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to the far-off reeds and lotus. In the second screen Geiami official Japanese embassies to Korea and to China.
the foreground reeds, prunus, and grass hummock 1431-1485 A "dedicatory" painting by the principal aesthetic
establish the distance of the far-away geese and advisor to the shogun, bearing an inscription by
the even farther snowy mountains. The design VIEWING A WATERFALL (KAMBAKU Zu) Osen, would have constituted a particularly pres-
consequently does not appear flat and solely tigious "diploma with honors" for Shokei.
decorative, but maintains contact with reality dated to 1480 Soami succeeded Geiami as the last of the
through suggested space. Japanese "three Ami" line of painters. Noami (Shinno,
Patronage, particularly from the daimyo of hanging scroll; ink 13 and color on paper 1397-1471; see cat. 226) had adopted a byname
3
x
x 30.3 (4i /4
106
Vs)
the more powerful and remote provinces, helped inscriptions by Getsud Shukyo (d. 1500), Rampa incorporating the Ami suffix as a sign of devotion
greatly in establishing the popularity of large- Keishi (d. 1501), and Osen Keisan (1429-1493) to Amida, Buddha of the Western Paradise. This
scale kacho subjects. Such works afforded all the was relatively common practice among members
connotations desired by these rulers: references Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo of the Ji (Timely) sect founded by the charismatic
to China in the subject and the ink-painting monk Ippen Shonin (1239-1289). Ippen had
medium; associations with Zen through the Viewing a Waterfall is the only painting that can stressed the merit to be accrued toward salvation
painter and the vibrant brushwork; manifestations be reliably attributed to Noami's son Geiami, who by simply repeating the name of Amida (the prac-
of power in the large format with its potential for was aesthetic adviser (ddboshu) to the shogun and tice of nembutsu). This easy and useful routine
dramatic imagery. The present screens do begin curator of the shogunal art collections. The work appealed immensely to all classes, especially to
to project visual manifestations of power. S.E.L. is valued as much for its documentary importance workmen and artisans, among whom were
as for its aesthetic appeal. Three inscriptions, included painters and sculptors. Noami, his son
respectively by Getsuo Shukyo, Rampa Keishi, Geiami (Shingei), and Soami (also known as
and Osen Keisan, offer description and poetic Shinso, d. 1525) were major artistic figures, close
observation and identify the figure as Li Bo, the to the shogunate and especially to the shogun
celebrated Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty (618- Yoshimasa (1436-1490), whom they served as
907). Osen's inscription includes a brief account advisers in the arts of No drama, music, Chinese
of the circumstances of the painting's creation. and Japanese poetry, garden design, and the
It was painted by Geiami and presented to his emerging Tea Ceremony, and as connoisseurs of
pupil Kenko Shokei (see cat. 235) on the occasion Chinese works of art, especially painting. Noami's
of Shokei's departure for his home temple of catalogue of the shogun's collection, Gyomotsu
Kencho-ji in Kamakura after completing his One Mokuroku, was a systematic inventory of
period of tutelage in Kyoto. Osen was a renowned more than ninety Chinese paintings of the Song
scholar of Chinese literature and one of the most and Yuan dynasties; while Soami's-Kundaikan
prominent figures in the Sinophile literary cul- Sochoki added biographies of the artists and a
ture centered around the major Zen monasteries complex ranking system, with ranks named for
(a cultural movement referred to as Gozan bun- the levels of spiritual attainment in Amida's West-
gaku). Between 1472 and 1475 he accompanied ern Paradise.

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