Muraoka Ōtō (1873-1946)
Takagari (Falconry), 1916
Signed: Ōtō (right screen only)
Sealed: Seisho kenkon dai (both screens, upper), Ōtō (both screens, lower)
Pair of six-panel screens: color on paper
68 x 144 inches each (172.8 x 360.4 cm each)
Exhibited:
Tenth Bunten, 1916
Published:
Nittenshi Hensan Iinkai, Nittenshi 4, Buntenhen 4 (Tokyo: Nitten, 1981), pp. 446 and 447
Takagari is by far Muraoka Ōtō’s best Bunten submission. In this monumental work, Ōtō portrays a group hunting with a trained falcon on a cold winter day. A young man, the leader of the group, is dressed in the classic hunting outfit with deer-hide leg covers. Of the two attendants who follow him, the old falconer has his watchful bird perched on his arm while the young boy holds the leash of the lithe hunting dog. In falling snow, the group walks on a long wooden plank placed over several moored boats. For major exhibition submissions, Ōtō always chose historical subjects deriving both from China and Japan’s past. His 1917 Bunten entry, Fue (Flute), depicted an ancient Chinese scene of a man playing a flute to his appreciative audience. A complex painting which showcased many figures of various ages with opulent details of architecture and courtyard garden, the work was attacked by one critic who said that too much focus on minutia cluttered the composition and weakened the main theme. Painted a year earlier than the criticized work, Takagari shows none of the weaknesses that supposedly marred Fue. On the contrary, Ōtō demonstrates not only superb brush skill but also his intellect for dynamic, coherent composition. Juxtaposing the diagonal thrust of the plank with the opposing direction suggested by the moored boats, Ōtō places the hunting group in the very center of the composition. In contrast to the broader treatment of the background, the figures and animals are represented with lifelike facial expressions accompanied by exquisite details of the costumes and in the textures of feather and fur. Clearly based on the assiduous study of historical references, Ōtō’s consummate depictions bring the customs and manners of medieval Japan to life before our eyes.
Ōtō came from a distinguished family. His father represented the fifteenth-generation of doctors in service of the Tokugawa government. While studying Chinese literature and calligraphy, young Ōtō became a disciple of Matsumoto Fūko (1840-1923) in 1880. He progressed quickly and his early painting titled Hagoromo was shown at the 1892 Columbus Exposition. During the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895), Ōtō joined the army and went to China. Upon returning home, he and two other
artists formed a painter’s group Ryokusenkai to critique each other’s works. With the steady increase of members, they reorganized and renamed the group Tatsumigakai (Tatsumi Painting Group). At the end of the Meiji period, Tatsumigakai enjoyed over 1000 members participating in its exhibitions. Starting in 1903, Ōtō also joined Ugōkai, a gathering of painters inspired by Edo culture and ukiyoe tradition that included Kaburaki Kiyokata. Ōtō centered his artistic activities on these two organizations during the last decade of Meiji and continued his Tatumigakai association into the Taishō period. Ōtō’s first Bunten acceptance was Watashibune (Ferryboat), 1910, a conservative depiction of Edo-period travelers on a crowded boat. He was most productive and ambitious during the early Taishō period, when his large paintings in a format of paired screens were accepted at Bunten in 1915, 1916, and 1917. After the Bunten was reorganized into the Teiten, Ōtō became less committed to the large national venue, submitting his work only three times in 1920, 1928, and 1932. Kawai Gyokudō (1873-1957), a friend and colleague, once described Ōtō as “a man of refinement without worldly attachment.” It was Ōtō’s conscious decision not to involve himself in the political intrigue of the government exhibitions.
Ōtō’s works are in the collection of the Yoshizawa Memorial Museum of Art, Sano, Tochigi prefecture, and in numerous private collections in Japan.
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