Past Exhibitions
- Artists’ Sketches
- February 4, 2020 - February 26, 2020
The fact that today we find a large number of what can be defined as sketches by Edo period artists may seem surprising. The practice of making sketches, however, started long before Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795) who is famous for having specialized in shasei ("sketching from life"). Already painters of the Muromachi period (1392–1573) and Kano school painters of the early Edo period (1615–1868) produced numerous sketches not only of animals, plants and landscapes, but also copied the works of ancient and modern masters. Because these served only as a reference for the painters themselves, they were executed in a carefree manner. As such, diverting from the final painting, they are interesting in their own way.
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