Kawai Gyokudō (川合玉堂): the Japanese landscape through the changing seasons
Kawai Gyokudō (川合玉堂, 1873–1957) is counted among the central figures of Japanese painting of the 20th century. His given name was Yoshisaburō; he was born in Aichi Prefecture. He found his subject early and kept it for a lifetime: the landscapes of Japan through the course of the seasons, and the people and animals who work and live within them.
Three teachers, three schools
Gyokudō's training proceeded in three stages, which at the same time cover three traditions. In 1887, at the age of fourteen, he entered the studio of Mochizuki Gyokusen in Kyōto and received there the artist name Gyokushū. In 1890 he moved to Kōno Bairei and his painting school, thereby entering the Maruyama tradition. In 1896, at the age of 23, he went to Tōkyō and became a student of Hashimoto Gahō, who had carried the Kanō tradition into modern Nihonga. From this threefold training – Kyōto school painting, Maruyama observation of nature, Kanō brushwork – his own distinctive tone emerged.
Court artist, professor, recipient of the Order of Culture
From 1898, Gyokudō was active at the Nihon Bijutsuin, which Okakura Tenshin had founded together with Gahō and Yokoyama Taikan. In 1915 he became professor of Japanese painting at the Tōkyō School of Fine Arts, and in 1917 imperial court artist. In 1940 he received the Order of Culture, the highest honor Japan awards for cultural achievement.
Landscape as mood
Gyokudō's landscapes rarely show anything extraordinary: a river, a boat, a slope in the rain, along with a figure at work. It is precisely this that makes them suitable for the tokonoma, for they do not claim the space but rather give it a tone. Anyone seeking a Japanese hanging scroll for a living space rather than for a particular occasion will find in this type of landscape the least obtrusive solution — it works all year round and is not fixed by a seasonal motif. The mounting matters especially here, because it either carries the restrained tone of the painting or overrides it.
