Shiba Kōkan
1781-89
Donated by the Homma Family
A Western-style painter active in the samurai capital of Edo, in 1783, Shiba Kōkan (1747-1818) accomplished the first-ever Japanese copperplate etching. He also created oil color paintings using paints he made independently. After studying the Kanō and Nanpin schools of painting, he encountered an exciting new source of inspiration in the form of the work of Hiraga Gennai and Odano Naotake, and changed direction towards Western-style painting.
A “Senkō Landscape Painting” uses water and paint as its base, and employs light coloring in a yellowish-brown palette (derived from a brownish orange color). In the upper left of the picture, an inscription from the Edo author Seki Kinei is present.