Noguchi Shohin (1847-1917)
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senzenwomenNoguchi Shohin was born in 1847 in Osaka City, where her father was a traditional medicine practitioner; her birth name was Matsumuro Chikako. Gifted from youth in poetry, calligraphy, and painting, she was sent to study with the painter Ishigaki Tosan at the age of eight. At sixteen, she spent several months traveling the Tohoku region with her father in order to further her painting studies; her father died en route and she sold her paintings to help support her mother.
In 1867 she moved to Kyoto and studied nanga (literati) painting, including sansui [shanshui] and kacho [huaniao], with Hine Taizan, along with ukiyoe and Confucianism, becoming acquainted with various literati of the time. It was at this time that she began to use the name “Shohin.”
In 1871 she moved to Tokyo to work seriously as an artist, in particular a portraitist. In 1873 she painted a series of nature paintings for the Empress’ boudoir. In 1877, aged 31, she married Noguchi Masaaki. Their daughter Ikuko (later also to be a well-known painter under the name Noguchi Shokei) was born the following year. The year after that they moved to Kofu City, the site of the sake brewery owned by Noguchi’s family, who also had a wide acquaintance of poets and painters in whose circles Shohin and her husband moved.
After Masaaki was disowned for a failed attempt to start a beer brewery, the family moved back to Tokyo. Shohin’s talents were put to use in the movement to restore the prestige of Japanese-style painting; her work received numerous awards and appeared in various exhibitions as a leading artist in the East Japan nanga style. She also did a lot of work for the Imperial Household, and taught painting at the School for Noble Girls (now Gakushuin Girls’ High School), becoming the first female Imperial Household Artist in Japan. In 1907 she was selected for the jury of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition.
Along with Atomi Kakei, better known for founding a girls’ school, and Okuhara Seiko, she came to be considered one of the three great Meiji-era woman artists. Later in life she returned to the sansui style, creating large-scale screens. She died in 1917 at the age of 71.
Sources
https://jmapps.ne.jp/yamanashimuse/sakka_det.html?list_count=10&person_id=350 (Japanese, contains a number of her paintings)
https://akira-antiques.com/shohin/ (Japanese, details from a large painting)
In 1867 she moved to Kyoto and studied nanga (literati) painting, including sansui [shanshui] and kacho [huaniao], with Hine Taizan, along with ukiyoe and Confucianism, becoming acquainted with various literati of the time. It was at this time that she began to use the name “Shohin.”
In 1871 she moved to Tokyo to work seriously as an artist, in particular a portraitist. In 1873 she painted a series of nature paintings for the Empress’ boudoir. In 1877, aged 31, she married Noguchi Masaaki. Their daughter Ikuko (later also to be a well-known painter under the name Noguchi Shokei) was born the following year. The year after that they moved to Kofu City, the site of the sake brewery owned by Noguchi’s family, who also had a wide acquaintance of poets and painters in whose circles Shohin and her husband moved.
After Masaaki was disowned for a failed attempt to start a beer brewery, the family moved back to Tokyo. Shohin’s talents were put to use in the movement to restore the prestige of Japanese-style painting; her work received numerous awards and appeared in various exhibitions as a leading artist in the East Japan nanga style. She also did a lot of work for the Imperial Household, and taught painting at the School for Noble Girls (now Gakushuin Girls’ High School), becoming the first female Imperial Household Artist in Japan. In 1907 she was selected for the jury of the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition.
Along with Atomi Kakei, better known for founding a girls’ school, and Okuhara Seiko, she came to be considered one of the three great Meiji-era woman artists. Later in life she returned to the sansui style, creating large-scale screens. She died in 1917 at the age of 71.
Sources
https://jmapps.ne.jp/yamanashimuse/sakka_det.html?list_count=10&person_id=350 (Japanese, contains a number of her paintings)
https://akira-antiques.com/shohin/ (Japanese, details from a large painting)
no subject
Date: 2023-12-01 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-08 10:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-01 07:19 pm (UTC)After Masaaki was disowned for a failed attempt to start a beer brewery <- Just layers of context I am surely missing here; this made me laugh (though surely it wasn't fun to live through). I would read a tragicomic play on this period of their life together.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-08 10:51 am (UTC)Yes indeed. "disowned" is a loose translation on my part, "dismissed from the line of succession/deprived of legitimacy as a son" is closer, I suppose, but in any case it's quite an event. I don't have the details, but presumably a combination of embarrassing the family and using up too much family money...
no subject
Date: 2023-12-02 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-08 10:49 am (UTC)Edited to add: Nice choice of icon! :)