Zeshin, Shibata 是真 紫田
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Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings


Biography Zeshin, Shibata 是真 紫田 (1807 - 1891)

Shibata Zeshin was born in Edo in 1807. He was the son of a sculptor. He was first apprenticed as a trainee lacquerer to Koma Kansai II, but shortly afterwards, in 1822, he began his training as a painter under the tutelage of Suzuki Nanrei. Soon he moved to Kyoto, where he studied with the Shijō artist Okamoto Toyohiko. Some years later he settled in Edo.
Apart from being a skilled lacquerer, printmaker and painter, Zeshin also wrote haiku and practised the tea ceremony. As a lacquerer, Zeshin distinguished himself by introducing several innovations both in technique and composition. In the 1830’s he started experimenting to develop a method which made it possible to apply lacquer on flexible material such as paper and silk, resulting in his famous lacquer paintings or urushi-e, most of which were produced in his later years.
Zeshin participated as official representative of Japan in International exhibitions in Vienna in 1875, in Philadelphia in 1876 and in Paris. He became a court painter in 1890.
In The Uninhibited Brush Jack Hillier says that from an artistic point of view Zeshin is the best of those late Shijō artists who remained untainted by the contemporary hype of imitating western style art. But he adds that in spite of his great ability and mastery, Zeshin cannot be considered a painter of great originality.
He died in 1891. His eldest son Reisai continued the family lacquer business.

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