Japanese Literati Painting and Calligraphy

Abstract

Literati painting in Japan is generally referred to as Bunjinga (literati painting; Ch. Wen ren hua) or Nanga (Southern School painting; Ch. nan zong hua), both terms borrowed from China. Wen ren hua refers to the status of artists who belonged to the scholar-gentleman class. Nan zong hua was coined by the Chinese painter and theorist Dong Qichang (b. 1555–d. 1636), who used it to describe art by literati, ostensibly amateurs, whose paintings were indebted to their mastery of calligraphy, expressed their inner feelings, and sought to capture the spiritual essence of their subjects. He deemed Nan zong hua superior to that of another so-called “school” of painters he invented, the “northern school,” professionals whose work he declared to be superficial and decorative. In relation to Japanese literati painters, however, this distinction between the southern and northern schools is largely irrelevant. The diverse and very large group of artists defined as literati painters were variously amateurs and professionals who worked in styles inspired by a wide range of Chinese pictorial approaches, which the Japanese learned from imported woodblock-printed painting books, actual paintings, and Chinese and Korean artists and calligraphers who visited or emigrated to Japan, including professional painters, Confucian scholars, and Chan (Zen) Buddhist monks. Some Japanese literati painters were samurai, others commoners. Their commonality is a dedication to and deep knowledge of Sinophile literati culture—particularly Chinese poetry—and their use of Chinese literati painting subjects, especially ink landscapes and themes, such as bamboo, in response to the market demands of Japanese consumers fascinated by Chinese culture. Many also brushed polished and colorful bird-and-flower paintings modeled after the work of Chinese professional painters, and their art was also impacted by native styles then in vogue and by naturalistic rendering drawn from exposure to imported Western art. Some literati artists earned their living as Confucian scholars or writers and painted as an avocation; others worked as professional painters, presiding over independent ateliers with legions of disciples. Although the literati painting movement began in the Kyoto region, it was quickly embraced by artists throughout the country who often traveled and shared ideas. The first writings on the subject date to the early 20th century, but the heyday of scholarship occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, and resulted, in the West, in a large number of dissertations, with the majority dating from the late 1970s through early 1990s. Those that were subsequently revised as published monographs have been omitted from this bibliography.