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Lot Essay
Hashimoto Gaho was a painter active from the end of Edo to Meiji periods, and known as the “father of nihonga (Japanese style painting)”. His painting style was of the traditional Kano school, however he introduced elements of Western art in particular the proper depiction of perspective, contributing to the transition and modernisation of Japanese style painting in the Meiji period. He was involved in founding the Tokyo Art School and after it was established in 1890 taught many important artists including Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958). He became one of the first Teishitsu Gigeiin [Imperial Artists].
Gaho was born in Edo, son of Hashimoto Osakuni, a goyo-eshi [official painter] of the Kawagoe Domain, present Saitama Prefecture, and a leading pupil of Kano Osanobu (1796-1846), the ninth generation of the Kobikicho Kano family. From the age of five Gaho learned Kano-school painting under his father and Kano Shosenin (1823-1880). Amongst many pupils he and Kano Hogai (1828-1888) were regarded as the most highly skilled and both artists later became the pioneers who lead the modernisation of nihonga. In 1860 he became independent however during the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration it became harder to work as a Kano school painter. From around 1884 he was invited to establish the Tokyo Art School under Ernest Francisco Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin where he taught as professor of painting after the school opened.
Many of Gaho’s works produced during the period when he painted in the Kano school style in Kobikicho have been lost and few survive today. This pair is a rare example from this period which show his great sense and skill as a Kano school artist. On the right are three cranes in a spring scene, one tending to her chicks in a nest in the trunk of a large pine tree, white plum trees and bamboo grow beside a stream, a turtle on a rock to the left, and the mountains in the distance. The left screen shows an autumnal scene of cranes in flight and one perched in a pine tree growing from cliff overhanging a stream. Maple leaves gently fall from a tree. Clouds are rendered with sprinkled gold leaf and seikin (gold and silver alloy). This depiction of cranes and flowers is in traditional Kano school style, however the bright colours enhanced with light sumi [black ink] show Gaho’s splendid sense of colour and individuality as an artist.
Gaho was born in Edo, son of Hashimoto Osakuni, a goyo-eshi [official painter] of the Kawagoe Domain, present Saitama Prefecture, and a leading pupil of Kano Osanobu (1796-1846), the ninth generation of the Kobikicho Kano family. From the age of five Gaho learned Kano-school painting under his father and Kano Shosenin (1823-1880). Amongst many pupils he and Kano Hogai (1828-1888) were regarded as the most highly skilled and both artists later became the pioneers who lead the modernisation of nihonga. In 1860 he became independent however during the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration it became harder to work as a Kano school painter. From around 1884 he was invited to establish the Tokyo Art School under Ernest Francisco Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin where he taught as professor of painting after the school opened.
Many of Gaho’s works produced during the period when he painted in the Kano school style in Kobikicho have been lost and few survive today. This pair is a rare example from this period which show his great sense and skill as a Kano school artist. On the right are three cranes in a spring scene, one tending to her chicks in a nest in the trunk of a large pine tree, white plum trees and bamboo grow beside a stream, a turtle on a rock to the left, and the mountains in the distance. The left screen shows an autumnal scene of cranes in flight and one perched in a pine tree growing from cliff overhanging a stream. Maple leaves gently fall from a tree. Clouds are rendered with sprinkled gold leaf and seikin (gold and silver alloy). This depiction of cranes and flowers is in traditional Kano school style, however the bright colours enhanced with light sumi [black ink] show Gaho’s splendid sense of colour and individuality as an artist.