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kara-e mekiki 唐絵目利 | ||||||
KEY WORD : art history / paintings | ||||||
Lit.
inspector mekiki 目利 of Chinese painting. The post of official art
appraiser for the Tokugawa 徳川 shogunate stationed in Nagasaki 長崎 during
the late Edo period. Duties included the examining, cataloguing and copying
of imported (Chinese and Dutch) paintings and other commodities for government
records. The post was officially established in 1697 and continued until
1870 when it was abolished. The men chosen to serve in this capacity were
originally government appointees but the position soon became a hereditary
occupation. Four families supplied the kara-e mekiki for generations:
the Watanabe 渡辺, the Hirowatari 広渡, the Ishizaki 石崎, and the Araki 荒木. As
official painters, they were sanctioned by government patronage and developed
a distinctive, conservative style to which they became bound. Their works
were eclectic, combining elements of traditional Japanese painting, Ming
decorative realism and aspects of Western illusionism. The Watanabe and
Hirowatari artists painted in a manner conforming more closely to Chinese
idioms called *kanga 漢画.
The Watanabes, in particular, specialized in portraits and bird-and-flower
painting. The first Hirowatari painters were influenced by the Kanou schools
*Kanouha 狩野派, and only
occasionally painted subjects such as Dejima 出島 (the island in Nagasaki
to which Westerners were confined), making no effort to assimilate Western
techniques. However, the Hirowatari family contributed to the emergence
of an official Nagasaki style. The Ishizaki and Araki families were more
open to Western influence. Ishizaki Yuushi 石崎融思 (1768-1846) was the most
popular and prosperous of all Nagasaki artists and the foremost exponent
and disseminator of the Nagasaki "official style." His oeuvre is versatile,
including scientific illustration, *ukiyo-e
浮世絵 sketches and *bunjinga
文人画 landscapes. Yuushi's studio in Nagasaki attracted over 700 followers
and many noted Nagasaki painters of the mid-19c were trained there. Among
the literati artists who studied with Yuushi were Kinoshita Itsuun 木下逸雲
(1799-1866), Miura Gomon 三浦梧門 (1809-60) and Hidaka Tetsuou 日高鉄翁 (1791-1871).
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REFERENCES: | ||||||
*Nagasakiha 長崎派 | ||||||
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NOTES: | ||||||
(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。 |
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