Bananier et moineau

Tsuji, Kakō 都路華香, né en 1870 à Kyōto, décédé en 1931

This painting by Tsuji Kakō (1870-1931) acquired by the museum was shown in the 2015 exhibition devoted to the Lingnan School and its Japanese influences. The work reflects this blending of the various Japanese currents of ink painting that took place from the 1880s. Tsuji Kakō, a pupil of Kōno Bairei (1844-1895), who devoted himself to the teaching of traditional pictorial art in response to the dissemination of Western models and techniques, was one of the major representatives of Nihonga in Kyōto. His sparrow on a banana tree, painted circa 1920, is an excellent example of his versatile use of stylistic references. The lifelike rendering of the bird shape recalls certain effects of the Maruyama-Shijō school, while his treatment of the banana tree in monochrome ink relates to the Nanga painting style and works inspired by Zen Buddhism, in which Tsuji Kakō had a deep interest. The decorative treatment of the main leaf of the banana tree, reduced to large expanses of colour separated by a zigzag line in reserve, suggests the influence of the Rinpa school on this artist and on the art of Kyōto in general.