Title: A Late Edo to Taisho Period Painting Album, Circa 1850-1924. Eleven Beautiful Silk Paintings and One Piece of Calligraphy by Celebrated Artists, Including One of the First Great Nihonga Figures. Landscapes, Samurai, and More
Author: Attributed to Tomioka Tessai; Tani Tetsuomi; Tanomura Chokunyū; Hara Zaisen; And Others
Condition: Good
A Late Edo to Taisho Period, mid 19th to early 20th century painting album, attributed to numerous artists of the periods, with names such as Tomioka Tessai, Tani Tetsuomi, Tanomura Chokunyū, Hara Zaisen, and others, bearing their seals and signatures.
There are eleven beautiful full-page paintings done in various Southern School and Nihonga styles, all lovingly produced on silk with various painting techniques, most being in color, of various landscapes and figures, including one resting warrior. There is also one example of beautiful calligraphy, produced on silk as well.
Of the identified artists, is the following information:
Tomioka Tessai (1837-1924) was born in Kyoto, with a given name of Hyakuren. He studied Japanese classics, Confucianism, and Buddhist scriptures, associated with loyalists, and after the Meiji Period, he served as the chief priest of various shrines. He did not follow a particular teacher in painting, but instead studied Yamato-e painting at first, and Chinese literati painting from the mid-period onwards, traveling around the country and forming his own unique style of painting. His freewheeling style, overflowing with rich sensibility and energy, is unique even among modern Japanese paintings, and is highly regarded internationally. His representative works include "Fujinsancho Zenzu" and "Horai Senkyo Zu." He died in 1924 at the age of 89. He is regarded as the last major artist in the Bunjinga tradition and one of the first major artists of the Nihonga style.
Tani Tetsuomi (1822-1905) was born the eldest son of a local doctor in Hikone, Omi. He studied economics and Western medicine in Edo and Nagasaki before taking over the family business, and in 1860, he was appointed a samurai of the Hikone domain and oversaw the domain's diplomacy. After the Meiji Restoration, he became a first-class councillor in the House of Councillors of the new government. He died aged 84.
Tanomura Chokunyū (1814-1907) was originally born with the given name Tade in Takeda Town, Bungo, as the third son of Sannomiya Den'emon, a samurai of the Oka Domain. By way of introduction via his uncle, he was introduced to the art school of Tanomura Takeda and was adopted at the age of 9. n addition to painting, he studied Confucianism under Kakuta Kyuka and Chinese poetry under Hirose Kyokuso, mastered the Omotesenke tea ceremony, the art of incense, and Togun-ryu swordsmanship. After his teacher passed away in 1835, he eventually settled in Sakai and founded the poetry society, Kosaiginsha, which is said to have attracted more than 300 disciples. He later studied Zen under the Obaku monk Tenoki Shinichi, and painted 500 paintings of various arhat statues, donating all of them. He became a retainer to the lord of the Oka domain, and received the patronage of various lords, and at the age of 63, won numerous awards at the Kyoto Exhibition in 1877. In 1896 , he founded the Japan Nanga Association together with Tomioka Tessai and Taniguchi Aizan, and eventually passed away in 1907, after a rich, long life. Today he is regarded as one of Japan’s last literati painters.
Hara Zaisen (1849-1916) was born into the fourth generation of the Hara family, who had served as painters for the Imperial Court for generations. He began learning painting from his father, and at the age of 13 created his first painting for the Imperial Court. In 1880, he became a member of the Kyoto Prefectural Art School, resigning in 1892. Over the decades he exhibited at several fairs, winning various positions at the Paris Exhibition of Japanese Art in 1892, the Domestic Industrial Exposition in 1898 and 1903, the National Painting Exhibition in 1905, and even exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair in 1901. He was well-versed in court etiquette and customs, and painted many paintings for the Imperial Court, including "Emperor Meiji's Funeral Scroll.”
The paintings have been finely bound in album format with blue brocade covers, decorated with trailing gilt floral designs.
One silk painting album in orihon format (36.5 x 29.8 cm), 26 leaves
This album is in good shape, but the brocade covers have cleanly detached, as has the first painting from the main text block, and the front cover has been partially bent by some sort of impact. There is minor foxing and soiling to a few of the paintings and calligraphy.