Past Exhibitions
- Interior Paintings from Tenkyu-in Temple
- January 23, 2018 - February 18, 2018
Tenkyu-in is the name of a subtemple of the larger Zen complex of Myōshin-ji in Kyoto. It was built in 1631 by Lady Tenkyuin (1568–1636), the daughter of Ikeda Terumasa the first daimyo lord of Himeji. She commissioned the prominent artists Kano Sanraku (1559–1635) and his son-in-law Kano Sansetsu (1590–1651) to create the paintings on the sliding door panels and walls in each room of the Hōjō (abbot’s quarters).
Most such sets of door and wall paintings from the early modern period have been lost, along with their buildings, to fire over the ages. Tenkyu-in is remarkable in that it still stands today with its full interior suite of paintings, which retain the same brilliant pigments seen when they were first made. These paintings are also prized by art historians for representing transition between the painting styles of the Momoyama (1573–1615) and Edo (1615–1868) periods.
Back to Top