Taki Katei
Japanese, 1830-1901
Ten Friends (Flowers), 1870s-1880s
ink and light color on silk; hanging scroll
51 3/8 x 54 in.
Gift of the Estate of Antoinette Mayer
1982.10
RESEARCH PAPER
“Ten Friends” uses the large gold silk background to provide the rich backdrop for the 10 free drawn representation of flowers as friends. Gold represents royal in Chinese paintings, and the most cherished human qualities are shown as flowers, the subject of many Japanese and Chinese artists renderings. A study of Chinese flower and bird paintings, which later transferred to Japan, showed the appreciation of not only the beauty within the natural setting that surrounds us, but also what human characteristics are sought in close human interactions. The free drawn flowers, look as if they are drawn quickly without outline and filled in with light colors, when in reality, a wall piece such as “Ten Friends” would take 10 years to complete. There is a peaceful feeling to the scroll, where each flower seems as important as another. As we look from one to another, some are shown above and some below, however each is valued as unique and lovely in its own right, as are the human attributes they represent.
“Ten Friends” is an example of the strong Chinese influence on Katei’s work as well as his prominent place in the literati style. His subject is believed to be from a 12th century Chinese scholar, indicating virtues of friends symbolized as flowers listed below:
Poetic Friend (Rose); Hermetic Friend (Osmanthus); Refined Friend (Lotus); Distinguished Friend (Begonia); Beautiful Friend (Chrysanthemum); Meditative Friend (Gardenia), Pure Friend (Plum Blossom); Lustrous Friend (Peony), Elegant Friend (Jasmine); and Extraordinary Friend (Daphne).
The style from China is in the manner of Yun Shouping (1633-99) and Xu Xi. In a traditional Chinese painting you will see an art form that includes poetry, calligraphy and painting. Katei is known as a gentleman of intelligence and thoughtfulness, who was respected by others who practiced the art style of the educated, intelligent, or literary.
Taki Katei was the son of a master-less samurai who started painting at age 7, initially with Sateo Suigai, then his teacher, Ooka Unpo. During that time, Katei learned techniques of bird-and-flower painting sketching from life. In 1856, he moved from Aki Province to Nagasaki to study with Hidaka Tetsuo for six months, and became familiar with Chinese Artists.
He is especially significant because his career spanned two eras, the Tokugawa period and the Meiji period (1868-1912). His work changes style within his life to reflect the changing expectation in art which coincided with the changes in Japan. This allowed him to begin to expand from traveling a city circuit to the country painting private commissions in the north. He was able to continue his travels because of the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
After reading Ishikawa Kösai’s “Record of the Hall of Hoeing Fragrance”, in which Katei is praised as the master of contemporary painting, the writer Huang Xiquan composed two poems for Katei, inspired by the delicacy and intensity of his scrolls: “The scroll has a vibrant spirit and vivid energy, as if it represents an old man. Although he lives in one place, his name has crossed the four seas. He bowed low to do the painting and became one with it” and “The depiction of the Seven Fragrances and Ten Friend reminds us of the splendid world. Peonies [fortune] and birds [immortality]–the happiness has no end.” (Buckland, p. 183)
This scroll is an example of scrolls that were completed for large for exhibitions. Katei competed in Domestic Industrial Expositions (1877, 1881, and 1890) and Competitive Exhibitions (1882 and 1890) Katei also was the highest paid painter in the scheme to decorate the new Imperial palace, completed in 1888, and in 1893 was appointed an Imperial Household Artist. Later he participated in exhibits in Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), and Chicago (1893).
Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Tommie Rae Barnett in 2020.
Bibliography:
“Taki Katei- World Museum, Liverpool museums” www.liverpoolmuseum.org.uk Retrieved by Wikipedia 2019-07-29
Buckland, Rosina, “Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katei and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture in Meiji Japan”. Leiden: Brill, 2013
SBMA Docent website for past exhibits: “Paths of Gold”, 2018
COMMENTS
Katei once painted a screen for my elder brother, and I saw that the coloring in it was delicate and intense. The skill is so superb that he understands Xu Xi and Yun Shouping. Recently I read Kosai's "Record of the Hall of Hoeing Fragrance", where he praises Katei as the master of contemporary painting and I believe this is so. In this "Record" he also praises the elegant person of Katei as well as the garden and pavilion, and it made me eager to visit there in order to ease my yearning. Today I composed two poems, and asked Kosai to present them to Katei: "The scroll has a vibrant spirit and vivid energy, as it represents an old man. Although he lives in one place, his name has crossed the four seas. He bowed low to do the painting and became one with it;" and "The depiction of the Seven Fragrances and Ten Friends reminds us of the splendid world. Peonies [fortune] and birds [immortality] - the happiness has no end. There are planted the green peach tree and the red apricot. The spring wind blows and delivers a vibrant mood to my home."
- Huang Xiquan, 1880
in Rosina Buckland, Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katai and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture in Meiji Japan. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013, p. 183
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
The large scale of this flower painting was designed both to impress the viewer and to allude to specific virtues of friends, a symbolic association with flowers purportedly designated by a 12th-century Chinese scholar.
Katei was known for his Chinese-style flower-and-bird paintings during the early years of the Meiji period (1868-1912) reflecting a renewed enthusiasm for Chinese culture as travel became available. He painted in the manner of the preeminent Chinese flower-and bird painter Yun Shouping (1633–1690) with delicate ink and color without outlines in capturing the natural shading of the flowers and foliage.
- Asian Art Reopening, 2022
The large scale of this flower painting was designed both to impress the viewer and to allude to specific virtues of friends, a symbolic association with flowers purportedly designated by a 12th-century Chinese scholar.
Katei painted in Chinese literati style and later became well known for his Chinese-style bird and flower paintings during the early years of the newly established Meiji period (1868-1912). Working in the manner of the preeminent Chinese flower painter Yun Shouping (1633–90), Katei painted flowers with delicate ink and color, without outline, and shaded in a naturalistic manner. The subject is purely Chinese, reflecting a new and growing enthusiasm for Chinese culture as the Japanese gained the right to travel to China after the Edo shogunate ended.
- Paths of Gold, 2018