Muromachi Art
During
the Muromachi period (1338-1573), also called the Ashikaga period, a profound
change took place in Japanese culture. The Ashikaga military clan took control
of the shogunate and moved its headquarters back to Kyoto, to the Muromachi
district of the city. With the return of government to the capital, the
popularizing trends of the Kamakura period came to an end, and cultural
expression took on a more aristocratic, elitist character. Zen Buddhism, the
Ch'an sect traditionally thought to have been founded in China in the 6th
century AD, was introduced for a second time into Japan and took root.
Painting
Because
of secular ventures and trading missions to China organized by Zen temples,
many Chinese paintings and objects of art were imported into Japan and
profoundly influenced Japanese artists working for Zen temples and the
shogunate. Not only did these imports change the subject matter of painting,
but they also modified the use of color; the bright colors of Yamato-e yielded
to the monochromes of painting in the Chinese manner.
Typical
of early Muromachi painting is the depiction by the priest-painter Kao (active
early 15th century) of the legendary monk Kensu (Hsien-tzu in Chinese) at the
moment he achieved enlightenment. This type of painting was executed with quick
brush strokes and a minimum of detail. Catching a Catfish with a Gourd (early
15th century, Taizo-in, Myoshin-ji, Kyoto), by the priest-painter Josetsu
(active c. 1400), marks a turning point in Muromachi painting. Executed
originally for a low-standing screen, it has been remounted as a hanging scroll
with inscriptions by contemporary figures above, one of which refers to the
painting as being in the "new style." In the foreground a man is
depicted on the bank of a stream holding a small gourd and looking at a large
slithery catfish. Mist fills the middle ground, and the background mountains
appear to be far in the distance. It is generally assumed that the "new
style "of the painting, executed about 1413, refers to a more Chinese
sense of deep space within the picture plane.
The
foremost artists of the Muromachi period are the priest-painters Shubun and
Sesshu. Shubun, a monk at the Kyoto temple of Shokoku-ji, has created in the
painting Reading in a Bamboo Grove (1446, Tokyo National Museum) a realistic
landscape with deep recession into space. Sesshu, unlike most artists of the
period, was able to journey to China and study Chinese painting at its source.
The Long Handscroll (Mori Collection, Yamaguchi) is one of Sesshu's most
accomplished works, depicting a continuing landscape through the four seasons.
Architecture
Another
major development of the period was the tea ceremony and the house in which it
was held. The purpose of the ceremony is to spend time with friends who enjoy
the arts, to cleanse the mind of the concerns of daily life, and to receive a
bowl of tea served in a gracious and tasteful manner. The rustic style of the
rural cottage was adopted for the tea house, emphasizing such natural materials
as bark-covered logs and woven straw.
Список
літератури
Для підготовки даної роботи були
використані матеріали з сайту http://www.ibiblio.org/louvre/paint/
