Japanese Woodblock Print, 1930s , published by the Shima Art Co.

SIZE IN INCHES: 4.1 x 3 inches

PROVENANCE: From the Robert O. Muller estate

ITO JAKUCHU (1716-1800) was the eldest son of Ito Genzaemon, a Kyoto grocer whose shop, called Masuya, lay in the center of downtown, in the Nishiki food district. Jakuchu ran the shop from the time of his father's death in 1739 until 1755, when he turned it over to one of his brothers. His training in paintings was mostly derived from inspirations from nature and from examining Chinese paintings at Zen temples. Some sources indicate that he may have studied with Ooka Shunboku, an Osaka--based artist known for his bird and flower paintings. Though a number of his paintings depict exotic or fantastic creatures, such as tigers and phoenixes, it is evident from the detail and lifelike appearance of his paintings of chickens and other animals that he based his work on actual observation.

Jakuchu built a two-story studio on the west bank of the Kamo River in his late thirties. He called it Shin'en-kan, Villa of the Detached Heart [or Mind]), after a phrase from a poem by the ancient Chinese poet Tao Qian. It was around this time that Jakuchu befriended Daiten Kenjo, a Rinzai monk who would later become abbot of the Kyoto temple Shokoku-ji. Through this friendship Jakuchu gained access to the temple's large collection of Chinese and Japanese paintings, and gained introduction to new social and artistic circles. It is thought that Daiten may have been the one to first conceive of the name "Jakuchu," taken from the Tao Te Ching and meaning "like the void." Well-known and well-reputed in the Kyoto art community, Jakuchu received many commissions for screen paintings, and was at one time featured above a number of other notable artists in the Record of Heian Notables. In addition to personal commissions, Jakuchū was also commissioned to paint panels or screens for many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines across Japan, including the very famous and important Rokuon-ji (the monastery which includes the Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion on its grounds).

Despite his commercial successes, however, Jakuchu can definitely be said to have lived the life of a literary intellectual (bunjin). He was friends with many notable bunjin, went on journeys with them, and was influenced by their artistic styles. His own degree of experimentation was a result of a combination of this bunjin influence and his own personal creative drive. In addition to his experiments with Western materials and perspective, Jakuchu also employed on occasion a method called taku hanga ("rubbing prints"). This method used woodblocks to resemble a Chinese technique of ink rubbings of inscribed stone slabs, and was employed by Jakuchu in a number of works, including a scroll entitled "Impromptu Pleasures Afloat", depicting a journey down the Yodo River. Despite his individualism and involvement in the scholarly and artistic community of Kyoto, Jakuchu was always strongly religious, and retired towards the end of his life to Sekiho-ji, a Mampuku-ji branch temple on the southern outskirts of Kyoto. There, he gathered a number of followers, and continued to paint until his death at the age of eighty-five.

VG, no flaws of note