Soga Shōhaku
{{Short description|Japanese painter (1730–1781)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Soga Shōhaku
| image = Sessen_Dōji-zu_by_Soga_Shōhaku.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Sessen Dōji-zu (Mie Prefectural Art Museum)
| birth_name = Miura Sakonjirō
| birth_date = 1730
| birth_place = Ise or Kyōto{{Cite web |title=Soga Shōhaku |url=http://www.britannica.com/related-places/552533/related-places-to-Soga-Shohaku |website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |accessdate=25 June 2013}}
| death_date = January 30, 1781 (aged 50-51)
| death_place = Kyōto
| nationality = Japanese
| other_names =
| occupation = Painter
| known_for =
}}
{{Nihongo|Soga Shōhaku|曾我 蕭白|4=1730 – January 30, 1781}} was a Japanese painter of the Edo period. Shōhaku distinguished himself from his contemporaries by preferring the brush style of the Muromachi period, an aesthetic that was already passé 150 years before his birth. His monstrous depictions of prominent figures were extremely unusual compared to other painters of his time.
Biography
File:蝦蟇・鉄拐仙人図 曾我蕭白.jpg and Liu Haichan (Museum of Fine Arts Boston)]]
Miura Sakonjirō was born in 1730, into a merchant family, as the second son of Miura Kichiemon and his wife Yotsu.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33014222 |title=Asashi Nihon rekishi jinbutsu jiten |date=1994 |publisher=Asahi Shinbunsha |others=Asahi Shinbunsha, 朝日新聞社. |isbn=4-02-340052-1 |at=曾我蕭白 |oclc=33014222}} His family was wealthy, but all of his immediate family members died before he reached the age of 18.
He became a painter in his late 20s, and studied under Takada Keiho of the prominent Kanō School, which drew upon Chinese techniques and subject matters.{{Cite book|title=Zen Paintings in Edo Japan (1600-1868): Playfulness and Freedom in the Artwork of Hakuin Ekaku and Sengai Gibon|last=Aviman|first=Galit|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-140947-04-27|year=2014|location=New York|pages=161}} It is recorded that he studied the painting methods of the Soga School and the Unkoku School, which his actual artwork reflects.
He produced many paintings during his travel to Ise Province. He was also active in Harima Province.
His disillusionment with the Kanō School led him to appreciate the works of Muromachi period painter Soga Jasoku. He began to use the earlier style of brushstroke, painting mostly monochromes, despite the fact it had become unfashionable.
Soga was known for his monstrous expressions{{Cite web |title=奇想ここに極まれり{{!}}曾我蕭白（そが しょうはく）展 愛知県美術館 2021年10月8日(金)～2021年11月21日(日) |url=https://static.chunichi.co.jp/chunichi/pages/event/soga_shohaku/ |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Chunichi Shimbun |language=ja}} and paintings depicting Zen Buddhist saints and renowned writers as vulgar characters, which was extremely unusual in his time. Considering he was friends with many Confucian and Zen scholars including Matsunami Teisai, Yangmingism of the late Ming dynasty, which valued the spirit of "strangeness" and "madness," is considered to have influenced his art.
Having settled down in Kyoto in his later years after having traveled across the country, Soga's later paintings are marked with a distinctly softer approach compared to his bizarre and unorthodox style that marked most of his artistic career.
Works
His work is held in the permanent collections of several museums worldwide, including the Brooklyn Museum,{{Cite web|title=Brooklyn Museum|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/158918|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org}} the Metropolitan Museum of Art,{{cite web |title=Soga Shōhaku: Lions at the Stone Bridge of Mount Tiantai |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53410?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Soga+Sh%C5%8Dhaku&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1 |website=Metropolitan Museum of Art |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701101505/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53410?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Soga+Sh%C5%8Dhaku&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1 |archive-date=2023-07-01 |language=en |url-status=live}} the Philadelphia Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Learning from Asian Art: Japan|url=https://www.philamuseum.org/booklets/4_25_25_0.html|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.philamuseum.org}} the Princeton University Art Museum,{{Cite web|title=Teaching Inspires Major Acquisition {{!}} Princeton University Art Museum|url=https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/story/teaching-inspires-major-acquisition|access-date=2021-03-04|website=artmuseum.princeton.edu}} the Minneapolis Institute of Art,{{Cite web|title=Bo Le [right of a pair of the Legends of Xu You, Chao Fu, and Bo Le], Soga Shōhaku ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art|url=http://collections.artsmia.org/art/37189/bo-le-soga-shohaku|access-date=2021-03-04|website=collections.artsmia.org}} the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Dragon Amid Waves {{!}} LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/191095|access-date=2021-03-04|website=collections.lacma.org}} the Indianapolis Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Pair of Hawks with Branch and Blossoms|url=http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/71598/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Indianapolis Museum of Art Online Collection|language=en}} the Birmingham Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Landscape {{!}} Birmingham Museum of Art|url=https://www.artsbma.org/collection/landscape-6/|access-date=2021-03-04|language=en-US}} the Walters Art Museum,{{Cite web|title=Lan-ting Pavilion|url=https://art.thewalters.org/detail/91848/lan-ting-pavilion/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=The Walters Art Museum|language=en}} the British Museum,{{Cite web|title=hanging scroll; painting {{!}} British Museum|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1913-0501-0-460|access-date=2021-03-04|website=The British Museum|language=en}} the Harvard Art Museums,{{Cite web|last=Harvard|title=From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Ink Landscape|url=https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/340558|access-date=2021-03-04|website=harvardartmuseums.org|language=en}} the Dallas Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Kanzan - DMA Collection Online|url=https://www.dma.org/object/artwork/4085674/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.dma.org|language=en}} and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.{{Cite web|title=Waterfall {{!}} Soga Shohaku {{!}} Profile of Works|url=https://www.fujibi.or.jp/en/our-collection/profile-of-works.html?work_id=8586|access-date=2021-03-04|website=TOKYO FUJI ART MUSEUM|language=en}}
Gallery
File:Soga Shohaku, Japanese (1730–1781), Shoki Ensnaring a Demon in a Spider Web, 18th century, Japan, Edo period, Two-fold screen; ink on paper, Kimbell Art Museum.jpg|Shoki Ensnaring a Demon in a Spider Web (Ink on papered folding screen, photograph by Kimbell Art Museum)
File:Soga Shohaku - Orchid pavilion gathering - Google Art Project.jpg|Orchid pavilion gathering (National Gallery of Victoria)
File:The Three Laughers of Tiger Ravine, Soga Shohaku - Indianapolis Museum of Art - DSC00768.JPG|The Three Laughers of Tiger Ravine (Indianapolis Museum of Art)
File:Beauty by Soga Shohaku (Nara Prefectural Museum of Art).jpg|Beauty (Nara Prefectural Museum of Art)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Soga Shohaku}}
- {{cite web |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/158918/River_Landscape |title=River Landscape by Soga Shōhaku |author= |year=1998 |website=Brooklyn Museum |accessdate=20 June 2013}}
- [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/153737 Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art], a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Soga Shōhaku (see index)
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