HOT ! Learn More: Tohaku Hasegawa, His Life and Works

Second printing, first edition published in May 2010. With cover, no obi. Both the cover and the text are in very good condition. Price: 1980 yen (tax included).

This book explores the secrets and charm of the late-blooming Tohaku, whose works include the masterpieces of Japanese painting, such as "Pine Forest Screen" and "Maple Trees."
● Unlike his rival Kano Eitoku, Tohaku's fresh poetic sensibility and refreshing sense of color created masterpieces that stood out in the world of ink painting and the often-empty grandeur of Momoyama screen paintings.
● Tohaku's unique emotional expression of nature and his depiction of affection for the first time in animal paintings brought about a new era in painting.

The following is a reprint from Amazon customer reviews:
From page 30, there is an interesting explanation of the national treasure "Pine Forest Screen." After introducing the conventional theory that this work was a sketch and that the fusuma paintings were changed to a screen, the review states, "In the midst of the strong pressure of producing the Shoinji screen paintings and the sorrow of losing his son (Kyu-zo), Tohaku painted this screen as a self-inquiry, so to speak." I thought this view was brilliant.
"Pine Forest Screen" has no color and no sound. The eeriness of the pine forest rising like a heat haze in the stillness. It is a beauty of the sublime, and one can feel the atmosphere of wabi-sabi. The overwhelming presence can be felt throughout the work, and I believe it is a work that surpasses Eitoku, as Tohaku pursued him as a lifelong rival.
Tohaku continued to live through the turbulent times because his feelings of sorrow and prayer were consistent throughout his life, from his works as a painter of Buddhist images in the Nanao era as Shinshun to the huge "Nirvana Painting" of Honpo-ji Temple. I am also drawn to the "Portrait of Sen no Rikyu" in the Omote Senke Fushin-an. Tohaku and Rikyu had a close relationship, and although it was painted after his death, the realistic depiction gave a sense of dignity and intensity.
From page 48, the national treasures "Pine and Hollyhock" and "Maple Trees" in the Chishaku-in Temple collection, and Kyu-zo's "Cherry Blossoms" embody the splendor and luxury of Momoyama culture. I viewed them at the Chishaku-in Temple Treasure Hall and also confronted them in the museum, and I was speechless at their magnificence and brilliance.
The "Bamboo Grove and Monkeys" in the Shokoku-ji Temple collection is so cute. It is a work that has a gentleness that overturns the image of ink painting. The "Willow Bridge and Waterwheel" in the Kosetsu Museum of Art collection is like pop art, and it is a work with an advanced meaning, like a precursor to the Rinpa school. (Omitted)




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