Exhibition ‘Sakai Hoitsu and the Edo Rimpa School’ Opened

On August 30, the exhibition titled ‘Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Sakai Hoitsu’s Birth: Sakai Hoitsu and the Edo Rimpa School’ opened at the Himeji City Museum of Art (until October 2). It showcased artworks by SAKAI Hōitsu – who flourished in Edo in the late eighteenth century, admiring the style of artists in Kyoto such as TAWARAYA Sōtatsu and OGATA Kōrin – and Edo Rimpa artists who inherited his style. The exhibition displayed 338 works, including around 160 works by Hōitsu, such as his representative painting ‘Flowering Plants of Summer and Autumn (夏秋草図屏風)’, and around 60 works by his student SUZUKI Kiitsu. This was complemented by related materials and works by artists such as IKEDA Koson, SAKAI Ōho, and SUZUKI Shuitsu, who linked to the modern era. The exhibition consisted of nine chapters: Chapter 1 ‘Himeji sakaike to Hōitsu (The Himeji Sakai Family and Hōitsu)’; Chapter 2 ‘Ukiyo-e seisaku to kyōka (Ukiyo-e Production and Kyōka)’; Chapter 3 ‘Kōrin gafū e no keitō (Devotion to the Kōrin Style)’; Chapter 4 ‘Edo bunka no naka no Hōitsu (Hōitsu within Edo Culture)’; Chapter 5 ‘Ugean Hōitsu no butsuga seisaku (Hōitsu’s Buddhist Painting Production at Ugean)’; Chapter 6 ‘Edo rimpa no kakuritsu (The Establishment of the Edo Rimpa School)’; Chapter 7 ‘Kōgei ishō no tenkai (The Development of Kōgei Designs)’; Chapter 8 ‘Suzuki Kiitsu to sono shūhen (Suzuki Kiitsu and His Circle)’; and Chapter 9 ‘Edo rimpa no suimyaku (The Watercourse of the Edo Rimpa)’. The exhibition subsequently toured to the Chiba City Museum of Art (October 10 – November 13) and the Hosomi Museum (April 10 – May 13, 2012) (Japanese)