Lot 28: Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795) Maruyama School, dated Anei 5 (1776)

Maruyama School, dated Anei 5 (1776)
Kakejiku, in sumi and slight colour on silk, depicting three puppies, one seated on its haunches watching its siblings tumbling over each other, signed Anei Hinoe Saru Boshun Sha Okyo (painted by Okyo in the late Spring in the year of the Monkey [1776]) with two seals Okyo no in and Chusen; with double storage boxes, one inscribed Okyo-hitsu. 101½cm x 38½cm (40in x 15 1/16in). (3).

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The painting here is just one of many Maruyama Okyo executed of puppies. The artist exhibited a gentle approach to his animal subjects, viewing them with loving eyes which combined with his mastering of the shasei (sketching from life) technique resulted in an adorable animal painting of the first calibre imbued with human emotion.

Okyo however appeared to favour depicting particularly the brown newly born koinu species - with the white bridge of the nose and drooping ears - as presented here; these featured in many of his works; and the fact that many pictures of puppies by Okyo remain to this day reflects their popularity.

Born to a poor farming family in Tanba province, Kyoto prefecture, Okyo brought about a revolution in the world of Japanese painting. During his formative years he studied the Kano and Tosa inspired techniques under Ishida Yutei (1772-1786). Okyo was also influenced by Western realism. He ultimately combined all three styles and established his own style, previously unseen in the country.

Founder of the Maruyama school, Okyo can effectively be called the father of the shasei. This technique was based on the direct observation of life, became the basic element in conceiving compositions, and for the first time was used to compose large-scale works such as hanging scrolls, screens and sliding doors. Though not by any means the first to draw actual nature, Maruyama Okyo was a pioneer who used his knowledge of Western perspective and visual realism to construct his paintings. That said, other painters were critical of Okyo's style. They found it to be overly concerned with physical appearances, alleging that he was too beholden to the real world and produced undignified works. Nevertheless, his style proved popular with the public, and commissions came in particularly from the newly rich merchants to do Western-style landscapes, decorative screens, and even nudes.

For other examples of puppies depicted on fusuma in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, see, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Tokubetsuten Maruyama Okyo: Shaseiga - (Challenging a New Frontier), Exhibition Catalogue, Osaka 2003, pl. 57, and for the same subject painted on kakejiku, see ibid.,pl.52, in the collection of the Tsuruga Municipal Museum in Fukui prefecture, Japan.