橋本関雪HASHIMOTO Kansetsu

Born on November 10, 1883 (Meiji 16), in Kusunoki-chō, Chūō-ku, Kobe, the eldest son of Hashimoto Kaikan (1852–1935) and Fuji. His childhood name was Naritsune 成常, later changed to Kan’ichi 関一. His paternal grandfather Bunsui 文水 was a Confucianist in the Akashi clan, and his father Kaikan was also a Confucian scholar in service to the clan, and thus fluent in “kanshi” (Chinese style) poetry, calligraphy and painting. After the Meiji Restoration, Kaikan taught at various schools including Hyogo Prefectural Teacher’s School and Kobe Middle School. He also wrote books in Chinese as well as producing Chinese translations of educational texts about Western civilization and culture. Numerous Chinese politicians, scholars, Koreans, and Westerners frequented his home. Thus Kansetsu’s training in Chinese studies took place in such an rich environment. His mother Fuji was also an educated woman who used the “gō” (art name) Shōkei 松渓 for her ably brushed calligraphy and paintings, but she left the family when Kansetsu was about five years old. In 1895 (Meiji 28) Kansetsu dropped out of Minatogawa Elementary School and studied under the Shijō school painter Kataoka Kōkō who lived in Hirano village, Kobe (present-day Hyōgo-ku). That same year his performance of impromptu painting and calligraphy at the Fourth National Industrial Exposition held in Kyoto was well received. His earliest known work, “Shizuka Gozen” (1896, private collection), produced when he was only thirteen years old, shows that he had already attained considerable technical skill by that age. In 1898 (Meiji 31) he traveled to Tokyo to study painting, where he spent a year. His father’s subsequent financial difficulties meant that they lost their home and he was forced to support himself. He lived in a succession of wealthy homes in Akashi, Takasago, and Himeji where he painted works for the owners, traveling alone all the while through the Harima region. In 1903 (Meiji 36) through an introduction from Mitsumura Toshio, a wealthy Kobe businessman who founded the Mitsumura Printing Company, Kansetsu entered Takeuchi Seihō’s painting school Chikujōkai and thus had a chance to properly study Shijō school methods. In 1905 (Meiji 38) he was sent to the front during the Russo-Japanese War. In 1908, his work based on those experiences, “Lingering Snow Outside Tieling Castle” 鉄嶺城外の宿雪(whereabouts unknown), was accepted by the Second Bunten (Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition), marking his first government-sponsored exhibition acceptance. Even though his entry for the First Bunten exhibition had been rejected, his works for the Second and Third were accepted. “Disappointment” (1909, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto), his entry for the Third Bunten inspired by Du Fu’s poem “Encountering Li Guinian in Jiangnan” 江南逢李龜年 and his entry for the Fourth Bunten “Ballad of the Lute” (1910, Hakusa Sonsō Hashimoto Kansetsu Garden and Museum, Kyoto), based on Bai Juyi’s poem of the same title, were both accepted. The Sixth Bunten had a two-section system for Nihonga (Japanese painting), namely an “old school” section (First Section) and a “new school” section (Second Section). Kansetsu revealed the breadth of his expressive range by submitting paintings to both sections, “Brewing Tea Beneath the Pines” 松下煎茗 (whereabouts unknown) to the First Section, and “Emperor Go-Daigo” (1912, Fukuda Art Museum, Kyoto) to the Second, with both works accepted in their respective sections. He went on to display large works at the Bunten and Teiten (Teikoku Bijutsuin Tenrankai [Imperial Fine Arts Academy Exhibition]) exhibitions, creating a succession of large works underscored by technical prowess in their realistic, superbly rendered color sensibility, thereby cementing his position within painting circles of the day. In 1916 (Taishō 5) he built a combined painting studio and residence near Ginkakuji, Kyoto, that he dubbed Hakusa Sonsō (present-day Hakusa Sonsō Hashimoto Kansetsu Garden and Museum, Kyoto), where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. In 1913 (Taishō 2) Kansetsu made his first visit to China, and his fascination with the country led to frequent trips to the continent from then on. He visited China more than sixty times, and in addition to choosing subjects from the landscapes and historical tales of each of its region, for a time he was completely immersed in Chinese nature and historical culture, collecting a massive number of cultural artifacts, and imitating Chinese garden design in his construction of the Hakusa Sonsō garden. “Southern Country” 南国 (1914, Himeji City Museum of Art) was the first major work to show the fresh excitement he felt on his trip to China. The Yangtze River sparkling in the sunshine, a tangle of colorful sail boats, and the seamen controlling the powerful boats are all rendered in vivid colors, gold leaf and gold paint. Kansetsu himself stated that he had taken the Impressionist painting style into consideration when he created this work, indicating that in the first half of his thirties he was conversant in the arts of both East and West. In 1919 (Taishō 8) he was named a member of the judging committee of the newly established Teikoku Bijutsu Tenrankai (Teiten), the successor to the Bunten. His entry in the First Teiten exhibition, “Guojo (Kakukyo)” (1919, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto), is based on one of China’s “Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety.” While in the traditional hanging scroll triptych format, the shading used on the figures and the image of a mother cradling her child have been said to be related to Western Madonna and Child images. From April through December 1921 (Taishō 10) Kansetsu traveled to Europe with his eldest son, Setsuya, and his experiences with art in various parts of Europe reconfirmed his preference for Japanese painting and Asian painting. For years Kansetsu had strongly tended towards the Chinese-derived Nanga, or literati style, and painted a number of works in the style, with his travel to Europe further confirming that tendency. The late Meiji to early Taishō period reevaluation of Nanga led to the appearance of a new form simply called Shin-nanga (New Nanga), and Kansetsu was one of the people who furthered this trend. As Chinese and Japanese painters continued to be attracted to and interpret the Post-Impressionists and other Western painters, in his book, “Nanga e no dōtei” (The Road to Nanga) (Chūō Bijutsusha, 1924) Kansetsu asserted that Nanga is expressionism and Asian painting is superior. Kansetsu’s views on Nanga went on to exert a massive influence on 20th century Chinese artists and theorists, such as Feng Zikai (1898–1975) (note 1). After his trip to Europe Kansetsu focused on publishing his writings on Nanga. He highly regarded the Edo period literati painter Urakami Gyokudō and his book “Gyokudō Kinshi Ibokushū” (Qin Master Gyokudō’s Extant Ink Works) (Bunshōdō Shashinbu, 1924) was the first modern evaluation of Gyokudō. Across his many visits to the Chinese continent, he interacted with numerous renowned literati figures there, including Wu Changshuo (1844–1927) and Luo Zhenyu (1866–1940). The seal engraver Qian Shoutie (1897–1967) was one such figure, and he stayed at Hakusa Sonsō and carved seals for Kansetsu. During this period of Western-centric modernization process, Kansetsu was also highly regarded in China as a person linking traditional literati painting with modern art. In addition to his images of traditional Chinese tales and landscapes, from a young age Kansetsu was also particularly adept at painting animal subjects, including horses, monkeys, foxes, and badgers. Around 1930 he also began to enter such works in the Teiten and other exhibitions. Representative examples include “Uncontrollable Lusts” 意馬心猿 (1928, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto), “Monkeys” 玄猿 (1933, Tokyo University of the Arts), “Horse Presented” painted as an offering to the Imperial Court (1933, The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shōzōkan), “Dogs from Europe” (1936, Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts), and “Monkey in Frost” 霜猿 (1939, Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art) displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. “Gibbon,” which became so famous it is almost a synonym for Kansetsu’s name, is said to be underscored by his affection for his wife Yone who had died the previous year. In 1934 (Shōwa 9) Kansetsu was appointed an Imperial Court Artist, and in 1935 he became a member of the Teikoku Bijutsuin (Imperial Fine Arts Academy) upon the organization of the Teiten. The following year, 1936, he resigned that position when the painters who had previously been granted exhibition entry without judging were reinstated as Teikoku Bijutsuin members. The long standing feud with Kyoto painting circles was said to lie in the background of his resignation. Starting around 1938 (Shōwa 13) he worked hard on producing war paintings, actively engaging with the government’s call for artists to “reward the nation via their art” 彩管報国 and entering his works in the First Seisen Bijutsuten (Holy War Art Exhibition) (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the Hashimoto Kansetsu Holy War Memorial Painting Exhibition (Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo). In 1938 he was a member of the judging committee for the 17th Chōsen Bijutsu Tenrankai [Korea Art Exhibition]. In 1940 he produced a total of sixty “fusuma” (sliding wall) panels for the Hōjō at Kenninji, Kyoto, including “Metempsychosis” 生々流転, “Hakuraku” 伯楽, “Late Autumn” 深秋, “Dreary Landscape” 蕭条, and “Hanshan” 寒山子. In 1942 (Shōwa 17) Kansetsu and writer Yoshikawa Eiji were commissioned by the Asahi Shimbun Company to accompany Japanese troops to Southeast Asia and they traveled through various countries in the region. The results of that trip were published in a painting and text compilation, “Minami o Kakeru” (Racing to the South) (1943, Asahi Shimbun Company). He entered “Air-Raid Shelter” (1942, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo), painted from memories of the scenes experienced during that journey, in the Fifth Shin-Bunten exhibition. He entered “The Fragrant Concubine (Xiangfei) in Battledress” 香妃戎装 (1944, Shūgiin, Tokyo) in the special wartime Bunten exhibition. Kansetsu based this painting on the portrait of Xiangfei by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766), a painting that he often referred to in other works. Kansetsu can be seen to have entrusted his own thoughts to the proud resolute stance of Xiangfei in this work. On February 26, 1945 (Shōwa 2) Kansetsu had an attack of angina before dawn and died at his Hakusa Sonsō home. He was 61 years old. Not only did his deep understanding of and affection for Chinese culture and his many works underscored by great technical prowess make him the darling of the pre-war government-sponsored exhibitions, he also authored numerous books, collected Chinese artifacts, and was extremely knowledgeable about garden design. (Iio Yukiko / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-03-25) Note 1. Nishihara Daisuke, “Hashimoto Kansetsu: Shi to Suru mono wa Shina no shizen,” Minerva Shobō, 2007, pp. 126–131.