sehepunkte 25 (2025), Nr. 1

Wibke Schrape: Ikeda Koson and the Construction of Rinpa

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the mid-19th century is still largely a void in Japanese art history, especially bakumatsu, the turbulent final years of the Tokugawa samurai government (1603-1868), and the dawn of the modern Meiji era (1868-1912). Ikeda Koson (1803-1868), the focus of this book by Wibke Schrape, is one of the underexplored artists of this period and so I wholeheartedly welcome this publication. Koson is best known as a pupil of Sakai Hōitsu (1761-1828), the master of the so-called Edo Rinpa group.

The term 'Edo Rinpa' itself, a significant offshoot in the genealogy of 'Rinpa' (an artistic lineage emulating the style of Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716)), demands careful untangling, art historically, culturally and politically. Schrape endeavours to reaffirm Koson's critical role at an early stage in the process that established the notion of Rinpa, which involved academic and popular art historical discourses in Japan as well as Europe and the USA during late 19th-century Japonisme. Koson was, ironically, almost forgotten while these discourses were developing. In Schrape's view, art historians of the 20th century distilled and confined the parameters of Rinpa in terms of style, technique and subject matter too narrowly to include versatile bakumatsu professional artists such as Koson.

According to Schrape, "this book is less interested in the person Ikeda Koson than in the textual and visual traces this artist left behind [...] the question to ask is not why he was forgotten, but rather to what extent his art historical perception is interlinked with the general understanding of Rinpa". (17) The book, therefore, is not an attempt to present Koson's works and career. Rather, it is about artworks, publications and discourses involving many different actors and factors (of which the most prominent are Koson himself, Japan's national image-building during modernisation and the role of 20th-century art historians), that occurred in a temporally staggered manner from the early 19th to the late 20th centuries. To achieve her ambitious and potentially elusive objectives, Schrape adopted the Actor Network Theory as a methodological framework, which lends her work a critical basis: "They [Koson and other Edo Rinpa artists] were seemingly forgotten, silenced, or even lost in the sense that not being exhibited and not being published meant non-acceptance and non-existence according to Latour's description of the relationship between actors and accounts". (26)

Schrape's detailed description of Koson's works establishes him as a capable, versatile, adaptable and skilful artist working in the city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), who promoted his master and purported mentor Kōrin's art and legacy, and hence his own lineage. In his own time, Koson's versatility was a desirable quality for professional artists in Japan to survive and thrive. However, the trend in the modern academic discipline of Japanese art studies to focus on masterpieces, monumentality and artistic originality may be one of the reasons why Koson virtually disappeared from art historical discourse.

The book consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the textual information about Koson's biography and names, compiled as Appendix A, then goes on to outline Koson's artworks mentioned in sales catalogues and academic publications. Tamamushi Satoko's thorough historiographical research published in 2004 [1] serves as an important guiding reference for Schrape's study, and Schrape also acknowledges her indebtedness to Okano Tomoko. Authentication of known works by Koson relies mainly on work by Okano and Ota Karin, and these include 77 painted and eight printed works listed in Appendix B with thumbnail images, signature and seal transcriptions [2] as well as current holding institutions and literature, forming a very useful resource.

In Chapters 2 and 3, Schrape proposes three analytical points of view - 'pictorial mode', 'painting mode' and 'interpictorial relations' - to categorize Koson's paintings according to format, subject matter, technique, material and composition. Schrape's use of the concept of 'interpictoriality' is not limited to the relations between/among artworks themselves but has been expanded to include art historians' interpretations of specific artworks as part of the processes of visual referencing in an attempt to reveal the gap between artists' intentions and scholars' interpretations. Chapter 2 discusses Koson's paintings on folding screens.

Chapter 3 introduces a wider variety of subjects in Koson's oeuvre and unpacks complex references to a number of artistic styles that, according to Schrape, informed Koson's work. The range of subject matters includes flowers (Kōrin and Hōitsu), famous places (ukiyo-e prints), Buddhist themes (connection with Hōitsu and Tani Bunchō), genre subjects (17th-century genre paintings and Iwasa Matabei) and traditional Japanese themes and figures (Yamato-e Revival School). Critical of scholarly assumptions of the linear development of a style, especially in relation to Rinpa, Schrape proposes Maruyama Ōkyo and Chinese painting as Koson's visual and technical sources for flower subjects in addition to Rinpa masters.

This schematic approach, however, may risk each referenced artist being reduced to a label. In particular, the parts that address 'Chinese painting' would have benefitted from a more detailed discussion. That Koson learned 'Ming painting (Minga)' is a common biographical detail. Schrape seems to suggest that the 'Ming painting' that Koson took as his model was literati-style ink painting, while another scholar interprets that Koson studied bird-and-flower painting in colours in the style of Ming court painters. [3] Consideration of Koson's Shrike and Autumn Plants (fig. 51, British Museum) can perhaps provide further insights. A very similar composition is included in Koson's publication of Hōitsu designs, the illustrated book Hōitsu shōnin shinseki kagami vol. 2 (1865), yet the way the main branch extends downwards with a perching bird against a plain background in Koson's painting is reminiscent of Kano-school bird-and-flower painting by, for instance, Kano Tan'yū. Koson's adaptation of Ming painting styles might therefore be better understood via the Kano school's tradition of Chinese court-style bird-and-flower paintings.

Chapter 4 extends its scope to Koson's printed works, addressing surimono and illustrated books. It is important to incorporate printed works of an artist, who is primarily considered a painter, in their body of painted works, which is still uncommon in the field of Japanese art history. Here, Koson's two publication projects - Kōrin shinsen hyakuzu (1864) and Hōitsu shōnin shinseki kagami (1865) - are discussed in the context of practices of honouring Kōrin in illustrated book form, starting with Nakamura Hōchū's Kōrin gafu (1802). In addition, Schrape draws attention to Koson's imperialist views, as expressed in his prefaces, which she argues were a key aspect of the incorporation of his publications into modern Japan's national art politics.

The book shines most in its last chapter, which presents Schrape's intention most clearly and is an engaging display of her knowledge and vision. The impact of Koson's Kōrin shinsen hyakuzu is carefully examined in the context of the Western visual perception of and fad for the Kōrin style as well as Japan's presentation of its national culture vis-à-vis that of Western nations. In contrast to these modern movements, an episode of a calligraphy-and-painting party (shogakai) in 1908 hosted by Koson's pupil Nozawa Teiu and other Edo Rinpa practitioners is intriguing as it reveals more conventional artists' activities. Further investigations into aspects of traditional artistic practices in modern art history would be meaningful.

Schrape's writing suggests a sense of mission, at times a passionate one and, thanks to Schrape's dedication, Koson's position is made clear to the reader. Richly illustrated throughout, the book is a joy to the eye as well as intellectually stimulating. Occasionally, however, previous scholarship is misinterpreted. It is particularly unfortunate that Kawai Masatomo's affirmative assessment of Koson's Cypress Trees (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) in ink and Moon and Autumn Flowers (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) in colours and gold is misrepresented. Kawai did not under-evaluate the latter; but rather rated Koson's understanding and control of the tonal range of ink and his elegant use of colour pigments equally highly. [4] As for other Japanese art historians, such as Yamane Yūzō, Kobayashi Tadashi and Murashige Yasushi, named in this book, their tremendous contributions to the development of the field, especially of Edo-period art studies, deserve more positive recognition.

Finally, briefly on editorial aspects, there are quite a few typographical errors, as well as some errors in Japanese romanisations, macrons and a couple of specific Japanese text interpretations that would have benefitted from review. The involvement of a native English copyeditor would have been a worthy investment for this important publication to gain the wide readership that it deserves for its important and new insights on Ikeda Koson's significant work and position in Japanese art history.

Notes:

[1] Tamamushi Satoko: Ikitsuzukeru Kōrin, Tokyo 2004.

[2] The seals of nos. 15 and 16 (British Museum) in Appendix B should read 'Akinobu / Shūshin'.

[3] Tōkyō-to Taitō-ku kyōiku iinkai ed.: Sensō-ji no ema to hengaku, Tokyo: Taitō-ku kyōiku iinkai, 2015, 23.

[4] Kawai Masatomo: Ikeda Koson hitsu hinoki-zu byōbu, in: Kokka, no. 1286, Tokyo 2002.