u Defination of
Nohongua : Nihonga is a Japanese painting style that is an ancient art form on
traditions and techniques over Thousand years old.
u Nihonga” is the
traditional Japanese painting technique. It usually comparing with “Yohga”, the
Western oil paintings, which came to Japan in Meiji Era. The paintings are
planar but have original depth, as it were, ‘trans-dimensional’. This is the
most impressive characteristic of Japanese style. It uses all natural materials
and the process is very time consuming.
u
Nihonga are typically executed on Washi (Japanese paper)
or eginu (Silk) , using brushes.It is made from soot mixed with a glue
from fishbone or animal hide is used. The raw materials are powdered into 16
gradations from fine to sandy grain textures, water is used; hence nihonga is
actually a water based meduim. Gofun (powdered calcium
carbonate that is made from cured oyster , clam or
scallop shells) is an important material used in nihonga.
Different kinds of gofun are utilized as a ground, for
under-painting, and as a fine white top color.
. Nihonga paintings do not need to be put
under glass. They are archival for thousands of years .
u Nihonga have certain techniques like In
monochrome Nihonga, the technique depends on the modulation of ink tones
from darker through lighter to obtain a variety of shadings from near white,
through grey tones to black and occasionally into greenish tones to represent
trees, water, mountains or foliage. In polychrome Nihonga, great emphasis
is placed on the presence or absence of outlines; typically outlines are not
used for depictions of birds or plants. Occasionally,washes and layering
of pigments are used to provide contrasting effects, and even more
occasionally, gold or silver leaf may also be incorporated into the
painting.
History of Nihonga :
In the 8th century in
Japan, the paintings using the technique and the style that came from China or
Korean Peninsula were called “Karae”, and the paintings having Japanese
original motives were called “Yamatoe”.
From ancient times, we have been looking on the ‘older’ one is ‘traditional’ comparing with the ‘newer’ one imported from the oversea countries.
From ancient times, we have been looking on the ‘older’ one is ‘traditional’ comparing with the ‘newer’ one imported from the oversea countries.
In 1882, Ernest
Francisco Fenollosa, the American philosopher who was hired by the Meiji
government, used ‘Japanese Painting’ at his lecture and the term was translated
in ‘Nihonga’.
He pointed out 5 characteristics of it;
1. No realism like photograph
2. No shadow
3. Having outlines
4. Pale colors
5. Simple expression
Strictly speaking, ‘Nihonga’ is the painting after Meiji Era, but generally we call so even if they were painted before the time.
He pointed out 5 characteristics of it;
1. No realism like photograph
2. No shadow
3. Having outlines
4. Pale colors
5. Simple expression
Strictly speaking, ‘Nihonga’ is the painting after Meiji Era, but generally we call so even if they were painted before the time.
Nihonga
and Western Art :
u u After more than 200 years of self-imposed
isolation Japan re-established diplomatic and trading relations with the
outside world in 1854, during the last years of the shoguns. With the
restoration of the rule of the Meiji emperor in 1868, Japan was opened up to an
unstoppable flood of influence from the West. Even , during the period of
isolation some artists were exposed to Chinese and Western art through the
privileged port of Nagasaki. Chinese artists visited the city, which also acted
as a conduit for Western books and prints, introducing techniques such as
scientific perspective and chiaroscuro shading.
but the vast scale of Western inroads and the
collapse of traditional patronage that followed the Meiji restoration threw
Japanese art into a state of crisis. In the face of this, artists found
themselves dividing into two broad schools: nihonga, which continued to use
time-honored Japanese materials and techniques, and yoga, which adopted
Western-style oil painting.
Nihonga
artists are among the least known outside their home country of all the
principal historic schools of Japanese painting, and are little represented in
international collections .
Nihonga
Paintings :
This two paintings are from the work of Fuyuko Matsui who is a japanese artist specialzed in Nihonga paintings .She has been marking her works based on her psychoanalysis result , and she put heavy weight on her feelings and inetrrest of voilence , loss , depression and trauma . But she also worked the them of life death as In this 2 pictures .
In the first painting there is a dead body lying in the nature and the plants grew up in that body which is connotation of relationship of life and death , and the denotation that life is nature and nature is life . we can not separate that two elements . And the painting number 2 it comes to emphasis the same idea of the 1st picture . In the 2nd painting I see water , and flowers (plants ) which is a denotation of life , no life without water , and if there is life there should be symbls of life that is nature (plants , flowers , water ...)
This beautiful painting is by Ito Jakuchu who is a Japanese painter who was working mainly in traditional Japanese subjects Chickens and other birds in particular , especially in a period where Japan had closed its doors to the ouside world .
when i look to this painting i only feel as if this 2 rooster are real , and the use of different colors makes it so beautiful and it has rooster head but the body like peacock .This work desplay a great degree of experimentation with prespective in a very modern stylistic way and element .
This painting is an antique small size
Japanese ink and wash painting featuring the image of the Zen Buddhist monk Daruma. This form
of painting is also sometimes called simply ‘wash’ painting and in Japanese is
called sumi-e or suibokuga painting.
Using only brush-applied black ink on paper this type of painting was
introduced into Japan in the 14th century by Zen Buddhist monks visiting from
China. This type of art is especially well suited to Japanese tastes
which tend toward subtle depictions of life and nature often accented with poetry written in
beautiful calligraphy.
This 3 paintings is the work of Higashiyama Kaii , who was graduated from Hyogo perfectual high school and entered the Nihonga department of fine Arts . He recieved the special prize at the largest competition art exibitiionin Japan , which led him tp pursue seeking his own style that is based on landscape as a major motif , as in this 3 paintings .
In the 1st picture it s a forest in a cloudy weather with lots of tress in a gray to black color . It s a kind of a very mysterious painting that has the denotation of emptiness fullness . The 2 nd picture it s also a forest but it only focussed on the cold and yellow leaves which means this is in the spring session and also have the denotation of emptiness fullness .Where as the 3 rd painting is a big lake in the middle of forest and he use the blue color to show may be the reflection of the water on the trees , it s a kind of mysterious too the way the trees are organized and its shadow in the lake .I see that all this 3 paintings have in common they all the landscape and they all embodied the denotation of fullness emptiness .
Resources :
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/309763280597964216/
