Yokoyama Taikan (横山大観)
Taikan YOKOYAMA (orthographic style: Taikan, November 2, 1868 - February 26, 1958) was a Japanese artist. He was a painter in the Japanese style. He came from Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture. He was a great master of the Japanese art world and established, what is today called 'Moro-tai' (painting technique), a unique Bossen gaho (painting technique) with vague line drawing. He was a member of the Japan Art Academy. He was presented with the first Bunka Kunsho (Order of Culture). He was posthumously presented with the Shosanmi (Senior Third Rank) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. He was an honorary resident of Ibaraki Prefecture. He was a resident of Taito Ward, Tokyo. His real name was Hidemaro YOKOYAMA.
Career
He was born in 1868 as the first son of Sutehiko SAKAI, a former clansman of the Mito Domain. He graduated from Furitsu Icchu (abbreviation for Tokyo Prefectural No. 1 Junior High School), and during his school days in Nihon Gakuen Junior High School and Senior High School he became interested in the pictorial arts and learned pencil drawing from Bunzaburo WATANABE, a Western-style painter. He was adopted as a son of the Yokoyama family, a maternal relative, in 1888. Around the same time, he took lessons from Hogai KANO, a great master of the Kano School, and others. He entered Tokyo University of the Arts in 1889 as a member of the inaugural class. He progressed under the guidance of Tenshin OKAKURA, Gaho HASHIMOTO and others. His classmates included Shunso HISHIDA, Kanzan SHIMOMURA and Kogetsu SAIGO.
After his graduation from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, he moved to Kyoto, where he started studying Buddhist painting and at the same time became a teacher of the preparatory school of the Kyoto City University of Arts. Furthermore, he started using his Gago (pseudonym) 'Taikan' around that time. He resigned the above post and took a position as assistant professor of his alma mater, the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. However, two years later a movement started to drive out the principal, Tenshin OKAKURA, who then lost his position. Taikan, who looked up to Okakura as his mentor, resigned from his position as assistant professor to follow suit, and in the same year he participated in the establishment of the Nihon Bijitsuin (The Japan Art Institute).
In his activities in the Institute he, together with Shunso HISHIDA, continued the unremitting study of a new style adopting the painting technique of Western painting, and before long he was turning out Bossen gaho paintings with courageously vague line drawings. His forward-thinking style was, however, severely criticized by the old-guard crony of the art world.
While the name "Moro-tai" is regarded as a term that appropriately indicates his style at the time, it was initially used as a criticism to mean a 'lifeless, vague and dim style.'
Because his domestic activities began to show signs of a standstill due to a strong conservative trend in the country's art world, Taikan went abroad with Hishida, held exhibitions one after another in Calcutta, New York and Boston, and was well received. Subsequently, he went to Europe, where he held exhibitions in London, Berlin and Paris, where he was also well received. Due to the artist's high reputation in Western countries, his type of work started to be highly rated in Japan as well. In 1907, he was a judge in a new annual art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education (Bunten), which started that year, and in 1913 restored the Nihon Bijitsuin, whose activities had been continually interrupted due to the pressures of old-guard cronyism.
After that, he built a solid position as a leading figure in the Japanese art world, received the Asahi Shinbun Cultural Award in 1934, became a member of the Imperial Fine Arts Academy in 1935, and in 1937 received the first Bunka Kunsho (Order of Culture), which was enacted that year. In the same year, he became a member of the Imperial Art Academy. In 1951, he resigned from his membership in the Nihon Bijitsuin. In 1951, he was selected as Bunkakorosha (Person of Cultural Merit). He died in 1957 at 89 years of age. He was raised to Shosanmi (Senior Third Rank) and presented with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his many years of service in the development of Japanese art. His brain is kept preserved in alcohol at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo.
Representative works
"Muga" (Selflessness), dated 1897, in the possession of the Tokyo National Museum
"Kutsugen" (a Chinese scholar-official), dated 1898, in the possession of Itsukushima-jinja Shrine
"Ryuto," dated 1909, in the possession of the Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki
"Shosho Hakkei," dated 1912, an Important Cultural Property in the possession of the Tokyo National Museum
"Seisei Ruten" (Eternal Cycle of Birth), dated 1923, an Important Cultural Property in the possession of The National Museum of Modern Art
"Yozakura," dated 1929, in the possession of the Okura Shukokan Museum of Fine Arts
"Masashige KUSUNOKI," dated 1938, in the possession of Minatogawa-jinja Shrine
"Aruhino Taiheiyo" (Pacific Ocean of One Day), dated 1952, in the possession of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Episode
Being known as a heavy drinker, he is considered to have had almost no rice (even when he occasionally had rice, he ate only a grain or two) but had meals only with sake (rice wine) and side dishes for 50 years or the latter half of his life. The sake he used to drink was "Suishin" of Hiroshima, which Kaoru YAMANE, then the president of Suishin Brewery, kept sending to him free of charge under the Yamane's promise to present sake to Taikan for life,' a promise made when Taikan and Yamane came to know each other and found themselves to be on the same wavelength in the early Showa period. Yamane was, however, reportedly surprised to receive several orders of Shitodaru (72-liter barrel) per year. Taikan kept sending one painting of his every year free of charge in place of payment for the sake, resulting in the establishment of the Taikan Memorial Museum at Suishin Brewery. Indeed, it wasn't as if he liked sake all along. In his youth, he was a nondrinker whom even a choko (small cup) of sake could make feel deeply flushed.
However, his teacher, Tenshin OKAKURA, was a heavy drinker who reportedly drank two sho (approximately 3.6 liters) a day and strongly encouraged Taikan to drink sake, saying, 'If you cannot drink such a small quantity of sake as one sho, how can you take care of yourself?'
He became a heavy drinker as the result of his training, in which he would repeatedly drink and vomit.
He always acted together with Shunso HISHIDA, his best friend and classmate at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, and in collaboration with Hishida he produced works such as "Morning in Spring/Evening in Fall" and "On the Way Home/Arrival in Port." When Taikan's friend died young in 1911 at the age of 36, he deeply lamented it and took the initiative in holding an exhibition in memory of Shunso HISHIDA, sending his own work, "Goryu Sensei" (now in the possession of the Tokyo National Museum) to the exhibition.
Until his later years, whenever he was called a great master of Japanese painting, he reportedly said, 'If that guy [Hishida] were alive, he would be better than I am.'
Taikan was strongly affected by Sutehiko, his father and an ardent loyalist, and his teacher, Tenshin OKAKURA, who was well known as a thinker and was characterized as an ultranationalist. He himself had an ultranationalistic aspect and preferably sought subject matter in the heroic and beautiful Mt. Fuji, which symbolizes Japan. He frequently presented his paintings to the Imperial Family, and during the Pacific War he contributed the proceeds from the sale of his own paintings to the military for the manufacture of fighter planes. Due to the above facts, after the war he was once questioned as a suspected war criminal by the General Headquarters (GHQ).
Since Taikan's touch was considered at a glance to be easy to imitate despite its uniqueness, many nameless painters appeared during a certain period of time before the war, falsely representing themselves as Taikan YOKOYAMA and going from one local wealthy person to another as freeloading guests. Many of the paintings they produced during that period are still in existence. There are many descendants of local celebrities who possess those Taikan fakes, believing they're genuine. These imitations are sometimes sarcastically called 'Inaka Taikan' (Country Taikan). As for Taikan's works, it is well known that there are enormous numbers of fakes including the above, and so Taikan's paintings are protected by assigning a number called 'Taikan number' to paintings that have been appraised by experts as being genuine.
It is said that he was a fan of the singer Shizuko KASAGI and that he loved listening to the phonograph recordings of 'Tokyo Boogie-Woogie' and 'Kaimono Boogie-Woogie.'
Taikan was in his eighties by that time.
Brief Personal History
September 18, 1868: His birth (contested)
His father, a clansman of the Mito Domain, worked actively as a royalist on the basis of the thought of Sonno Joi (reverence for the Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners) of 'Mitogaku' (the scholarship and academic traditions that arose in the Mito Domain). It is said that Taikan's loyalty to the Emperor derived from the above. His original name was Hidemaro SAKAI.
1878: His family moved to Tokyo.
1881: He entered Hibiya High School, Tokyo (the current Hibiya High School, Tokyo). Although he graduated with honors, due to circumstances he lost the qualification for admission in the examination of the 'Preparatory School of the University of Tokyo' (Tokyo Yobimon). Against his will, he entered a private school, Tokyo Eigo Gakko (Tokyo English School) (currently Nihon Gakuen Junior High School/Senior High School), which was then known as a preparatory school. He worked on exam-oriented English, which later proved instrumental in Taikan's living overseas.
1883: Taikan, who became interested in the pictorial arts, studied under the painter Bunzaburo WATANABE. Afterward, he received training from the Kano School. He was also influenced by Hogai KANO. His father eagerly wanted him to go on to Tokyo Imperial University rather than become a painter, given the fact that a Japanese-style painter at that time was poor and would have to earn a living with sideline work.
1888: He took an entrance examination at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He changed his name from Hidemaro SAKAI to Hidemaro YOKOYAMA under an adoption arrangement with the Yokoyama family.
1889: He entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts as a member of the inaugural class. His father totally disagreed with his becoming a painter. He made his living and earned his school expenses by reproducing illustrations on books as a part-time job until his graduation.
1993: He graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Afterward, he improved himself in Kyoto. He devoted himself to the work of reproducing ancient paintings.
1895: He became an instructor at the Kyoto Prefectural School of Art and Crafts (the current Kyoto City University of Arts). Estimated to be in this period of his training in Kyoto, he started using 'Taikan' as his gago (pseudonym). Some say this gago derived from the text of Hokke-kyo Sutra (the Lotus Sutra), in which "Taikan" is explained to mean to take a very broad view of the world.
1896: He accepted the position of assistant professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts.
1897: He married Fumiko TAKIZAWA.
1898: Tenshin OKAKURA resigned from his position as principal of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Subsequently, 14 followers--including Taikan and Gaho HASHIMOTO--did too. After that, Tenshin established the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Art Institute). Kanzan, Hironari, Shunso, Buzan and others then followed Tenshin and were busily involved in the establishment and management, investing their own funds.
1899: His first daughter was born.
1903: His wife Fumiko died. He visited India. He tried to draw a real image of Shakyamuni. This was on the advice of Tenshin OKAKURA, and some say that Tenshin regarded India as the starting point of Nihonga (Japanese painting).
1904: He went to New York on the advice of Tenshin OKAKURA.
1905: He went to London, England. He returned to Japan due to the death of his first daughter.
1906: He remarried Naoko ENDO. He moved to Itsuura, Ibaraki Prefecture, where Tenshin OKAKURA lived. His activities in Itsuura were based on 'the Painting section of the Nihon Bijitsuin' (Japan Art Institute), which consisted of the five members, Tenshin, Taikan, Shunso, Kanzan and Buzan.
1907: His father died. The 'Bunten exhibition' (an annual art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education) was held under government management. Taikan and Kanzan were judges in the Bunten.
1910: He left for China. He brought a donkey home. The fourth Bunten was held. He was a judge.
He made public his work, 'Sosui no maki.'
1912: Emperor Meiji died. The sixth Bunten was held.
1913: His wife Naoko died. The seventh Bunten was held. He was a judge of the last occasion.
He made public his work, 'Matsunamiki.'
In September, Tenshin OKAKURA died. He made a memorial address representing the followers.
1928: 'Tachiaoi' (Hollyhock) was presented to Benito MUSSOLINI.
1938: He finished his work, 'Kyokujitu Reiho,' to present it to Adolf Hitler.
1958: He died.
On January 1, 2009, his works whose copyrights had expired came into the public domain.