Nakabayashi Chikutō, originally Nariaki (Japanese:中林竹洞; (1776,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

- 27 April 1853,

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

) was a Japanese painter in the nanga style. His other

art name An art name (pseudonym or pen name), also known by its native names ''hào'' (in Mandarin), ''gō'' (in Japanese), ''ho'' (in Korean), and ''tên hiệu'' (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used by East Asian artists, poets and writers. The ...

s include Chūtan (沖澹), Taigen’an (太原庵) and Tōzan Inshi (東山隠士).

Life and work

He was the son of a doctor and displayed an interest in art at a very early age. At the age of fourteen, he and his friend,

Yamamoto Baiitsu Yamamoto Baiitsu (山本梅逸) (1783–1856) was a Japanese Edo period painter. Biography He was born in Nagoya, son of the sculptor Yamamoto Yumigiemon. His father was in the service of the court of the Tokugawa lords of the Owari Domain. He ...

(who was only seven) made the acquaintance of Kamiya Ten’yū (?-1803), a wealthy merchant who collected art and calligraphy and helped them pursue their artistic education. His first works were copies made from Kamiya's collection. He was especially influenced by ink drawings from the period of the Chinese

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

and the painting techniques of

Ni Zan Ni Zan (; 1301–1374) was a Chinese painter during the Yuan and early Ming periods. Along with Huang Gongwang, Wu Zhen, and Wang Meng, he is considered to be one of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty. Life Ni Zan was born into a wealth ...

. At the age of twenty, he opened his own studio in a small temple. After Kamiya's death, he and Baiitsu went to Kyoto to pursue an interest in classical literature and became members of the literary circle focused on the philosopher Rai San'yō and the nanga artist . He continued his training there and, together with Uragami, he wrote and published an illustrated book on painting called ''Gadō kongōsho'' (画道金剛杵; roughly, "The Heavenly Art of Painting"). He would later compose other works on his own, including ''Chikutō garon'' (竹洞画論; "Chikutō's Painting") and ''Chikutō gakyō'' (竹洞画稿; "Chikutō's Sketching). His son, , also became a painter and worked in the Chinese Northern Style. His daughter Kiyomi created some works in the style of the

Southern School The Southern School () of Chinese painting, often called " literati painting" (), is a term used to denote art and artists which stand in opposition to the formal Northern School () of painting. The distinction is not geographic, but relates to ...

. His work is kept in several museums, including the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

, the

Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, and the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

Selected works

From the book ' (融斎画譜; "Picture Album"), published by Chikutō's students. 融齋畫譜-Yūsai Picture Album (Yūsai gafu) MET 2013 667 05.jpg 融齋畫譜-Yūsai Picture Album (Yūsai gafu) MET 2013 667 07.jpg 融齋畫譜-Yūsai Picture Album (Yūsai gafu) MET 2013 667 08.jpg 融齋畫譜-Yūsai Picture Album (Yūsai gafu) MET 2013 667 09.jpg 融齋畫譜-Yūsai Picture Album (Yūsai gafu) MET 2013 667 12 crd.jpg

References

Sources

* Tazawa, Yutaka: "Nakabayashi Chikutō". In: ''Biographical Dictionary of Japanese Art''. Kodansha International, 1981. . * Laurance P. Roberts: "Chikutō". In: ''A Dictionary of Japanese Artists''. Weatherhill, 1976. .

External links

{{Authority control 1776 births 1853 deaths 18th-century Japanese painters People from Nagoya 19th-century Japanese painters 18th-century Japanese calligraphers 19th-century Japanese calligraphers Japanese calligraphers