Late Edo Period (19th c.)／Color on silk, eight sliding doors
168.0 x 115.5 cm (each)
ART OF THE REAL Transcendent Expression from Jakuchu to Warhol and Richter
Exhibition period：Sunday March 30～Sunday June 15, 2025
Loan period：Tuesday May 20～Sunday June 15, 2025
Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art (Tottori, Japan)
SUMMARY
Wind God and Thunder God was an important subject tackled by Rimpa masters Tawaraya Sotatsu, Ogata Korin, and Sakai Hoitsu, again reconstructed in this piece by Hoitsu’s top pupil Kiitsu. While the three masters contained the gods within a pair of two-folded golden screens, Kiitsu painted each on four silk sliding doors. Originally, the four panels of the paintings were meant to be displayed front to back. The wind and thunder gods, lightly colored in white and green, follow the soft clouds made with ink bleeds, commanding the broad spaces they’ve been given, looking as though they own the place. Along with his teacher Sakai Hoitsu, Kiitsu established the Edo Rimpa school with both stylishness and witty modernity, in response to the serene and elegant spirit of the Kyo Rimpa school. In this piece, lines expressing the unevenness of the wind and thunder gods’ torsos, arms and legs, as well as light shading around the eyes is applied. You can see how this reinforces three-dimensionality in an evident pursuit of reality not seen in the other three masters. With the seals “Isando” and “Kaikai” as well as the signature Shukurinsai Kiitsu, it is considered to be a piece from Kiitsu’s enthusiastic mid-30s to late 40s, in which he continued to establish his own style after Hoitsu’s death.
ARTIST
Suzuki Kiitsu
1796-1858
Born in Edo, name Motonaga. At 18 years old, he became an apprentice to Sakai Hoitsu, and after the death of Hoitsu’s apprentice Suzuki Reitan, married Reitain’s sister Riyo. He became a retainer of the Sakai family. Hoitsu had great confidence in Kiitsu, and often entrusted him with painting in his stead. Faithfully inheriting his teacher’s style, he then pursued his own style after his teacher’s death. He specialized in paintings of flowers and birds, and established a new kind of Rimpa-style expression with his sharp senses in drawing from nature, backed by observation of the natural world. He also left behind pieces such as e-byoso (a kind of trick painting in which the mounting itself was painted on). He died at 63.
List of artworks by the same artist
INFORMATION
Sunday, March 30 - Sunday, June 15, 2025
ART OF THE REAL Transcendent Expression from Jakuchu to Warhol and Richter Tottori Prefectural Museum of Art (Tottori, Japan)
Friday, October 8 - Sunday, November 14, 2021
From the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection: “THIS IS JAPAN” Eternal Japanese Art Oita Art Museum (Oita, Japan)
Monday, June 1 - Sunday, July 5, 2020
Great Masters of Japanese Painting from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Shimane Art Museum (Shimane, Japan)
Sunday, August 25 - Sunday, September 29, 2019
This Is Japan In Kyoto From The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection The Museum of Kyoto (Kyoto, Japan)
Saturday, March 24 - Sunday, May 27, 2018
OEDO EXHIBITION NAGASAKI Nagasaki Prefectual Art Museum (Nagasaki, Japan)
Tuesday, January 3 - Sunday, February 19, 2017
Suzuki Kiitsu: Standard-bearer of the Edo Rimpa School Hosomi Museum (Kyoto, Japan)
Saturday, November 12 - Sunday, December 25, 2016
Suzuki Kiitsu: Standard-bearer of the Edo Rimpa School Himeji City Museum of Art (Hyogo, Japan)
Saturday, September 10 - Sunday, October 30, 2016
Suzuki Kiitsu: Standard-bearer of the Edo Rimpa School Suntory Museum of Art (Tokyo, Japan)
Monday, October 10 - Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sakai Hoitsu Chiba City Museum of Art (Chiba, Japan)
Tuesday, August 30 - Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sakai Hoitsu Himeji City Museum of Art (Hyogo, Japan)
Tuesday, October 7 - Sunday, November 16, 2008
Celebrating the 350th Anniversary of Ogata Korin’s Birth: Treasures by Rinpa Masters – Inheritance and Innovation Tokyo National Museum (Tokyo, Japan)
Wednesday, November 3 - Sunday, November 28, 2004
Treasures of Japanese Art Exhibition Kagawa History Museum (Kagawa, Japan)
Friday, May 1 - Tuesday, June 30, 1998
Treasures of Japanese Arts and Crafts—400 Years of Japanese Art from the Momoyama Period to Modernity National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei, Taiwan)
Friday, February 10 - Sunday, April 16, 1995
Treasures of Japanese Art: Edo Period 1615-1868 La Pedrera / The House Mila (Barcelona, Spain)
Friday, September 23 - Sunday, January 22, 1995
Treasures of Japanese Art: Edo Period 1615-1868 Juan March Foundation (Madrid, Spain)
Saturday, May 28 - Monday, July 18, 1994
Treasures of Japanese Art: The World of the Samurai Medici Museum, Medici-Riccardi Palace (Florence, Italy)
Saturday, April 23 - Sunday, May 22, 1994
Special Exhibition: Inheritance of Art by Rinpa Masters—Sotatsu, Korin, Hoitsu, and Kiitsu Nagoya City Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Saturday, October 10 - Sunday, November 29, 1992
The Art of Rin School Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts (Tokyo, Japan)
Saturday, August 10 - Sunday, October 20, 1991
Behind Golden Screens: Treasures of Japanese Art from the TFAM Collection – An Official Event of Japan Festival ’91 and the Edinburgh Festival National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK)
Wednesday, September 26 - Sunday, December 9, 1990
Treasures of Japanese Art National Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Stockholm, Sweden)
Thursday, February 22 - Sunday, April 1, 1990
Treasures of Japanese Art from the TFAM Collection Sao Paulo Art Museum (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Monday, May 29 - Sunday, July 23, 1989
Treasures of Japanese Art from the TFAM Collection Taplow Court Oriental Gallery (Taplow Court, UK)
Tuesday, May 3 - Wednesday, August 24, 1988
Eternal Treasures of Japan: Japanese Art Collection from the TFAM Collection Institute of France, Jacquemart-Andre Museum (Paris, France)
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