context: painting > great schools > maruyama

Maruyama Okyo 1733-95

Scenery Along the River Hozu, by Maruyama Okyo

Maruyama Okyo had studied with a Kano school, and he'd also studied Chinese art. What separated him from countless others of whom those two things could be said was his feeling for Western art, and his ability to synthesise the three styles. Rocks, water, pine trees - all very Japanese subjects, and some of his line work, the sense of flow and rhythm that is seen in the rushing water on this page, are distinctly Japanese in style. But his use of perspective, in a quite discreet way (not at all like the gimmicky uki-e of Masanobu for instance), and most especially his heavy use of chiaroscuro effects (see the school page above this) are entirely Western. He had his pupils - a pretty interesting crop of contemporaries - sketch a great deal from nature, which wasn't normal practice in Japan.

forwards: Soga Shohaku