1794／Ink on paper, hanging scroll
111.8 x 30.7 cm
SUMMARY
Behind a rooster, hens show their faces, overlooking the chicks painted in the foreground. The figure of the rooster is depicted in close detail, from its comb and wattle to its feathers, tail and legs. On the other hand, the hens and chicks are presented in a more simplified manner, making it easy to overlook the composition. The feathers on the rooster’s back show, although in a delicate way, Jakuchu’s unique method of painting with overlapping lines, using the effect of sumi ink diffusion. The artist’s signature and seal say “Painting by the 79-year-old Beito-ou (Jakuchu)”, indicating that is was completed in 1794, when Jakuchu was producing work in front of Sekihoji temple (now Fukakusa, Fushimi, in Kyoto City), after the great fire of the Tenmei era that occurred in 1788.
ARTIST
Ito Jakuchu
1716-1800
Born the eldest son to a greengrocer in Nishiki Alley, Takakura, Kyoto, with the given name Jokin and family name Keiwa. Also went by the names Tobeian and Beito’o. After devoting himself to painting and Zen, receiving the householder (Buddhist practitioners who do so from home) title of Jakuchu, at age 40 he turned the family business over to his brother to concentrate on painting. Studying under the Kano school at first, in time he copied Chinese paintings from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties at ancient temples in Kyoto. Influenced by the detailed paintings of flowers and birds by Shen Nanpin, which were popular at the time, as well as ink paintings associated with the Obaku school of Zen Buddhism, he perfected an art style that skillfully blended realism and imagination. He died at the age of 85.
List of artworks by the same artist
INFORMATION
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)
Saturday, November 2 - Sunday, December 22, 2019
“Rendez-vous” through Arts―East Meets West― Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi (Osaka, Japan)
Tuesday, March 26 - Monday, May 6, 2019
ITO Jakuchu: A Prayer for Recovery following the Great East Japan Earthquake Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art (Fukushima, Japan)
Saturday, March 24 - Sunday, May 27, 2018
OEDO EXHIBITION NAGASAKI Nagasaki Prefectual Art Museum (Nagasaki, Japan)
Friday, July 28 - Saturday, August 26, 2017
Edo Period Paintings 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa, Japan)
Tuesday, October 4 - Sunday, December 4, 2016
Jakuchu Revealed: 300th Anniversary of Ito Jakuchu’s Birth Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Kyoto, Japan)
EXPLORE
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