Tomioka Tessai (1837 – 1924)
Nationality | Japanese |
Where Artist Lived | Kyoto, Japan |
Associated Movements | Nihonga movement |
Famous Artworks | Abe-no-Nakamaro (1918) Encountering with Immortal Women (1919) Two Divinities Dancing (1924) |
Born in 1837 as Tomioka Yūsuke, Tomioka Tessai was the pseudonym of this famous Japanese artist. Tomioka Tessai was known for being the last practitioner of the Bunjinga tradition, as well as a forefather of the Nihonga style. Born into a merchant family, his inability to hear led him to become a scholar and he pursued the fields of literature and philosophy instead of becoming a merchant.
- Portrait of Tomioka Tessai, before 1923; Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After the death of his father, Tessai moved to a Shinto shrine, where he spent more than 10 years studying under numerous accomplished painters. He eventually developed his unique style, which was inspired by the rising influence of Western art on the Eastern world, and moved Tessai to advocate for a return to traditional styles of painting, hence initiating the Nihonga movement in Japan.
- Abe-no-Nakamaro Writing a Nostalgic Poem While Viewing the Moon (1918)
Date | 1918 |
Medium | Color on silk |
Dimensions (cm) | 52 x 145.2 |
Where It Is Housed | Adachi Museum of Art, Yasugi, Japan |
This beautiful masterpiece was created by Tomioka Tessai in 1918. This silk canvas features a landscape of rural Japan, depicted in vivid red and green hues that bring to life the otherwise beige and dull composition. The painting depicts a tranquil scene, in which a figure can be seen seated underneath one of the pagodas.
The figure depicted was of the famous poet and scholar Abe-no-Nakamaro from the Nara period. As the name of the painting suggests, he is engaged in the act of writing poetry, something for which he was highly revered, while watching the full moon rise over the distant hills.
- Abe-no-Nakamaro Writing a Nostalgic Poem While Moon-viewing (1918) by Tomioka Tessai; Tomioka Tessai, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
