School of painting within the larger Japanese genre of ranga
Akita ranga
(
秋田蘭?
)
, also known as the
Akita-ha
(
秋田派
)
, was a short-lived school of painting within the larger Japanese genre of
ranga
, or Dutch-style painting which lasted roughly from 1773 to 1780. Based in
Kubota Domain
, a
feudal domain
, in the
T?hoku region
of
Honsh?
, northern Japan, in what is now
Akita Prefecture
, it was headed by the
domain's lord
Satake Shozan
and his retainer
Odano Naotake
. Though many
ranga
artists, most prominently
Shiba K?kan
, produced works on European themes, the Akita painters for the most part painted traditional Japanese themes and compositions using Western-style techniques and an approximation of oil paints.
Some of the chief features that distinguish Akita
ranga
from traditional Japanese painting (
nihonga
) are the inclusion of shadows, the use of
perspective
, reflections in water, and the use of blue for sky and sea. In addition,
ranga
artists left little or no blank space on a work, emulating Western art traditions and going against East Asian ones, and used oils and resins in addition to Japanese pigments to simulate the appearance of
oil paint
. Many of their works feature a large foreground subject which displays techniques in light and shadow, with a small, distant, landscape, displaying an understanding of perspective projection techniques.
History
[
edit
]
The school got its start when
rangaku
(Dutch studies) scholar
Hiraga Gennai
was invited to help advise the domain on the management of its copper mines. The area was a primary provider of copper to the archipelago in this period, much of which was also exported via Dutch traders based at
Nagasaki
. Though Gennai is known primarily as a physician, botanist and inventor, he was a
ranga
painter as well, and mentored Shozan in Western artistic techniques.
Odano Naotake, one of Shozan's chief retainers, was then sent to
Edo
to live and study with Gennai for five years, and it is believed that he likely came into contact with a number of other artists and
rangaku
scholars during this time. Returning to Akita, he composed, along with Shozan, three treatises on Western style painting. These were among the first of their kind to be produced in Japan.
The school worked primarily from sketchbooks and from life studies of plants, birds, and insects. Since its members were all fairly wealthy, and of the
samurai
class, they had little need to sell their works, but their influence was felt by some commercial artists, including Shiba K?kan.
Hiraga Gennai was arrested and imprisoned in 1779 for killing one of his disciples in anger and frustration; he died himself soon afterwards. Odano Naotake, being closely associated with Gennai, was dismissed from his official position in Edo. The movement came to an end shortly after the death of
Satake Shozan
in 1780 and Odano Naotake in 1785.
Main artists
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos.
Tour of Duty
. University of Hawaii Press (2008).
ISBN
0824834704
page 227.
- Thunberg, C. P.
Japan Extolled and Decried: Carl Peter Thunberg's Travels in Japan 1775?1776
. Routledge (005)
ISBN
1135787441
- Screech. Timon.
The Shogun's Painted Culture: Fear and Creativity
. Reaktion (2000).
ISBN
1861890648
-
External links
[
edit
]