Kawanabe Kyōsai

In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisKawanabe.

Kawanabe Kyōsai
Hà nồi hiểu trai
Kanawabe Kyōsai in 1880s.
Born	Shūzaburō 18 May 1831 Koga Ishimachi, Shimousa Province, (currently Koga City, Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan
Died	26 April 1889(1889-04-26)(aged 57) Zuirinji Temple,Tokyo,Japan
Resting place	TaitōWard, Tokyo
Nationality	Japanese
Known for	Painting, drawing, portraits
Movement	Ukiyo-e,Japanese Zen,Nihonga
Family	Kawanabe Kyōsui(daughter)

Kawanabe Kyōsai(Hà nồi hiểu trai,May 18, 1831 – April 26, 1889)was aJapanesepainterandcaricaturist.In the words of art historian Timothy Clarke, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".

Biography

Living through theEdo periodto theMeiji period,Kyōsai witnessed Japan transform itself from a feudal country into a modern state. Born atKoga,he was the son of asamurai.His first aesthetic shock was at the age of nine when he picked up a human head separated from a corpse in theKanda river.After working for a short time as a boy withukiyo-eartistUtagawa Kuniyoshi,he received his formal artistic training in theKanō schoolunder Maemura Tōwa ( trước thôn động cùng,? – 1841), who gave him the nickname "The Painting Demon", but Kyōsai soon abandoned the formal traditions for the greater freedom of the popular school. During the political ferment which produced and followed therevolution of 1867,Kyōsai attained a reputation as acaricaturist.His very long painting onmakimono(a horizontal type of Japanesehandscroll/scroll) "The battle of the farts" may be seen as a caricature of this ferment. He was arrested three times and imprisoned by the authorities of theshogunate.Soon after the assumption of effective power by the Emperor, a great congress of painters andmen of letterswas held at which Kyōsai was present. He again expressed his opinion of the new movement in a caricature, which had a great popular success, but also brought him into the hands of the police, this time of the opposite party.

Kyōsai is considered by many to be the greatest successor ofHokusai(of whom, however, he was not a pupil), as well as the first political caricaturist of Japan. His work mirrored his life in its wild and undisciplined nature, and occasionally reflected his love of drink. Although he did not possess Hokusai's dignity, power or reticence, he compensated with a fantastic exuberance, which always lent interest to his technically excellent draughtsmanship.

E-shimbun Nippon-chi(1874), published byKanagaki RobunandKawanabe Kyosai.

He created what is considered to be the firstmanga magazinein 1874:Eshinbun Nipponchi,withKanagaki Robun.The magazine was heavily influenced byJapan Punch,founded in 1862 byCharles Wirgman,a British cartoonist.Eshinbun Nipponchihad a very simple style of drawings and did not become popular with many people, and ended after just three issues.

In addition to his caricatures, Kyōsai painted a large number of pictures and sketches, often choosing subjects from thefolkloreof his country,Nô drama,nature and religion, for exampleThe Temptation of Shaka NioraiorThe goddess Kwannon on a dragon(onkakejikuframe).A fine collection of these works is preserved in theBritish Museum;and there are also good examples in the National Art Library at South Kensington and theGuimet MuseumatParis.The Kawanabe Kyōsai Memorial Museumwas established in 1977, located atWarabi,Saitama Prefecture,Japan.

Erwin Bälzwrote in his diary that Kyosai died because of gastric cancer.

AcrateronMercuryhas been named in his honor.

Bibliography

The most important work about Kyōsai's art and life was written by himself:Kyōsai Gadan( hiểu trai họa nói ), or "Kyōsai's Treatise on Painting", half autobiography and half painting manual. An important contemporary work concerning the artist isKawanabe Kyōsai-ō den( hà nồi hiểu trai ông vân ), or "Biography of the Old Man Kawanabe Kyōsai", by Iijima Kyoshin ( cơm đảo khiêm tốn ). The work was finished in 1899, but published only in 1984.

Many westerners came to visit Kyōsai, and their memoirs about the artist are valuable. The two important ones, both rare, are:

• Émile Étienne Guimet,Promenades japonaises,Paris, 1880
• Josiah Conder,Paintings and Studies by Kawanabe Kyōsai,Tokyo, 1911. Conder was a serious student of Japanese art; after some initial rejections, he was accepted as Kyōsai's pupil, and accompanied him for ten years until the master's death.

The most updated, and easily available, reference to Kyōsai's life and works in English is:

• Timothy Clark,Demon of painting: the art of Kawanabe Kyōsai,London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by the British Museum Press, 1993

Gallery

• 
  Bake-Bake Gakkō( hóa 々 trường học ), or "School for Spooks". In August 1872, the Meiji government decided to implement a system of compulsory education. In this caricature, both demons (above) andkappa(center) are learning vocabulary concerning their daily life. The former are taught byShōkithe demon queller, dressed in western-style uniform. Some goblins try to enter the school (below), but are blown away by the Wind God.
• 
  Renjishi( liền sư tử ), or "Dance of a Pair of Lions", by Kyōsai.Renjishiis a famous dance in theKabukitheatre.
• 
  Izanagi and Izanami giving birth to Japan, c. 1870
• 
  Promenades japonaises, 1880
• 
  Flowers and Birds( hoa điểu đồ ), 1881, Exhibited at The second National Industrial Exhibition.
• 
  Frolicking Animals, Nekomata and Tanuki Badger
• 
  A Beauty in Front of King Enma's Mirror
• 
  Hell Courtesan
• 
  Full Moon with Crow on Plum Branch, 1930
• 
  Never Seen Before - True Picture of a Live Wild Tiger

External links

• Works by or about Kawanabe KyōsaiatInternet Archive