Bunrin, Shiokawa 文麟 塩川  
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Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings


Biography Bunrin, Shiokawa 文麟 塩川   (1808 - 1877)

Shiokawa Bunrin was born in Kyoto in 1808 as the son of a samurai. At his father’s death he moved to relatives in Fushimi, where he started to study painting with a local artist called Toryō at the age of fourteen. Later, he was a pupil of Okamoto Toyohiko and also studied nanga style painting and western style painting. Little is known of his early career until the 1850’s when he appears as an established artist working in the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, many of his works from this period can no longer be traced.

During the chaotic years before the Meiji restoration Bunrin stayed away from the Kyoto scene and spent a lot of time studying the collections of the many temples and shrines in the Kyoto region. He also got acquainted with western style painting, from which he absorbed those elements which he could fuse into his own, like the rendering of perspective, atmosphere and light. He specialised in landscapes. His style was more western than that of his contemporaries and he explored many new techniques.

He was a major artist whose style had great influence on the Kyoto style of painting in the early Meiji era, particularly that of Kishi Chikudō, Morikawa Sobun, Mochizuki Gyokusen and Takeuchi Seihō. He also played an important role in establishing contacts with the new Mejij government, whose new rules greatly affected the Kyoto art world and the lives of artists. He helped establish the new Kyoto Exhibition in which he and his pupils contributed paintings and calligraphy. Later he became a judge of the painting section. He also helped establish a cooperative art-gallery where local artists held monthly exhibitions and sold their work directly to the public.
At Bunrin’s death in 1877 the leadership of his school was taken over by Kōno Bairei, but stylistically Kishi Chikudō and Takeuchi Seihō were Bunrin’s true successors.

See more paintings from this artist!
See also paintingss from Toyohiko, Okamoto 豊彦 岡本 (1773-1845)
See also paintings from Takeuchi, Seihô 竹内 栖鳳 (1864-1942)

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