Hara school of painters

The Hara School was a Kyoto-based Japanese painting atelier established in the late Edo era, which continued as a family-controlled enterprise through the early 20th century.

Artistic production in Edo period Japan was dominated by schools, which were professional workshops organized along patriarchal lines.

They had the twinned goals of training painters to faithfully continue school techniques, and of producing art to satisfy patrons.

Art was largely the domain of private patrons and connoisseurs, its manufacture being commission-driven by nobles, daimyōs, temples and shrines.

[2] Schools were characterized by an extended family structure based on heredity through birth or adoption, and were modeled on the medieval guild system.

[5] Artistic ability was defined as a combination of shitsuga (質画) and gakuga (学画): innate and learned painting skill.

[7] Some studios strictly policed students’ leisure activities, such as drinking and socializing, which was facilitated by the fact that pupils traditionally lived-in as uchi deshi.

[8] Study was a serious, time-consuming endeavor: “the successful student spent years in training, a time during which he developed physical stamina, self-discipline, perseverance, the ability to earn for himself, facility in technical skills, and a good understanding of the aesthetics and spiritual considerations required of a dedicated painter.”[9] Most studied for over ten years before being allowed to graduate, if they were allowed to graduate.

[11] As pupils worked their way up to the rank of head students (deshi gashira),[12] their relationship to their mentors was comparable to that of retainer to lord.

[9] Though seniors were usually referred to as sensei (teacher), some pupils addressed their instructors as tonosama, an honorific title for a feudal lord.

[9] Though apprentices were there to learn, they also constituted a valuable labour pool, with their artistic output contributing financially to the school.

[14] This benefited both school and patron, allowing the former to take on large scale commissions,[14] and ensuring the latter timely completion of their orders under the ultimate accountability of the house head.

[16] This was practiced in a number of ways, including through use of edehon, "pictorial models containing sketches of such things as ideal forms, subjects, and objects that are copied repeatedly for study purposes in learning painting".

[21] Zaichū studied alongside Maruyama Ōkyo (円山応挙) (1733–95), who was to become one of the most influential artists of the Edo period and start his own painting school.

[22] Thematically, his repertoire was diverse, including landscapes, portraits, plants and flowers, animals, Buddhist scenes (仏画), and gods (神像).

[30] When construction began on Kyoto's Imperial Palace in 1790, Zaichū joined artists from the Tosa and Kanō schools to contribute several paintings.

He also produced fusuma-e (sliding door paintings) for Kyoto temples such as Ninnaji (仁和寺), Kenninji (建仁寺), Shōgoin ( 聖護院) and Shōkokuji (相國寺).

[29] He worked in various scales and media, from small emaki (絵巻) handscrolls, kakemono (掛け物) hanging scrolls, and ema (絵馬) wooden prayer boards, to large fusuma-e (襖絵).

As a result, his works are considered "rather quiet and low key", or even characterized by "stiffness",[22] yet "admirably suited to the needs of the court".

[24] Zaichū, for the record, acknowledged his indebtedness to existing works: on some paintings, instead of signing his name, he wrote captions identifying the pieces as "copies" or as being "after" a given artist.

[41] Zaisen was highly active in the Kyoto art world,[42] In 1867, he was selected to represent Japan at the Paris International Exposition.

[42][45] From early Meiji on, Zaisen was a committee member in art associations such as the Joun-sha and the Kōso Kyōhai,[46] which organized meetings and competitions.

Other famous works include paintings in the Shinden at Ninnaji Temple done in 1913,[49] which have been praised for their impressive and refined seasonal landscapes.

After the war, he worked at the Kyoto Evening News before joining Konnichian Urasenke, a large organization promoting the Way of Tea.

[36] Although his older brother Zaimei succeeded as Hara head, Zaizen was well known in Kyoto art and court circles.