Title: Fujisan Jū ni kei no zu (Twelve Views of Mount Fuji), Circa 1877-1890. 12 Magnificent Silk Paintings of Different Views of Mount Fuji, with a Calligraphic Preface by a Painter of the Mori School
Author: Attributed to Nomura Bunkyo; Preface by Mori Kansai
Condition: Very Good
A Meiji Period, late 19th century painting album, entitled Fujisan Jū ni kei no zu, or Twelve Views of Mount Fuji, attributed to the artist Nomura Bunkyo (1854-1911), with his artist seal and signatures.
Preceding the paintings themselves is a double paged, calligraphic opening, inscribed and signed by Mori Kansai (1814-1894), artist of the Maruyama School of painting.
The 12 silk paintings present expertly produced views of Mount Fuji throughout the seasons, beginning with a beautiful sunrise, and other scenes presenting detailed landscapes to the forefront of Fuji, but always, there is artistic effort meant to focus on the great mountain itself, with several examples of Mount Fuji in a heavily detailed closeup, and extensive, detailed shading work to the mountain.
Nomura Bunkyo was born in the Shimogyo Ward of Kyoto Prefecture. His father, one Nomura Ubei, ran a kimono shop in Shijo Omiya. At the age of 14 in April 1867, he began studying ukiyo -e under Umekawa Tokyo, but in September 1869, he began studying painting in earnest under Shiokawa Bunrin of the Maruyama-Shijo School. While traveling through 19 provinces in the Kinai (a name for the ancient provinces around the capital Nara and Heian-kyō) region, he made detailed sketches and added Western-style realism to the landscape painting techniques he learned from Bunrin. Later moving to Tokyo in 1889, he became a prize-winner at the first Bunten, or Ministry of Education Arts Exhibition, a prestigious and influential annual national arts competition. One of his more notable pupils includes Yamamoto Shunkyo, who painted for Emperor Showa, and later became a professor at the Kyoto College of Fine Arts and one of the founders of the modern Kyoto school.
Mori Kansai was born in Hagi, with the given name Ishida Koshoku. After studying under a local artist, he eventually moved to Osaka in 1831. Studying under Mori Tetsuzan, and being adopted by him as well, later being sent to Kyoto and finding success as an artist of the Maruyama School. While he was a distinguished member of the School, he did not lend a hand to its modernisation, focusing on his own career as a literati artist, and remaining devoted to Nanga painting. Despite a prolific career of over 600 works, much of his portfolio is relatively unknown today.
The dating of this series of paintings can be studied at the fact that Mori Kansai took over the activities of the Joun-sha Kyoto painting circle after Bunrin’s passing in 1877, which implies that Kansai must have added his calligraphic forward to Bunkyo’s album sometime between then and prior to his eventual retirement.
The paintings have been finely bound in album format with brown brocade covers, decorated with floating cloud designs. The album has also been stored in a wooden box for preservation.
One silk painting album in orihon format (26.3 x 34.8 cm), 30 leaves
This album is in very good shape, with minimal rubbing and wear to the binding. One of the leaves has split. There is minimal soiling and spotting to a few of the paintings.