{"id":4682,"date":"2020-12-18T09:36:28","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T00:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shoga.info\/?p=4682"},"modified":"2022-02-03T14:12:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T05:12:13","slug":"mochizuki-unso-a-disciple-of-tsubaki-chinzan-in-enshu-region-and-an-expert-of-bird-and-flower-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shoga.info\/?p=4682","title":{"rendered":"Mochizuki Uns\u014d: A Disciple of Tsubaki Chinzan in Ensh\u016b Region and an Expert of Bird-and-Flower Painting."},"content":{"rendered":"

Mokuren Botan (Magnolia and Peonies)<\/h2>\n
\"Mokuren<\/a>
Mokuren Botan (Magnolia and Peonies) by Mochizuki Unsō<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mochizuki Unsō<\/a> was born in Edo in 1832. He was a disciple of Tsubaki Chinzan<\/a> and senior to Watanabe Shōka<\/a> and Tsubaki Kakoku (the eldest son of Tsubaki Chinzan). He was one of the painters who experienced the turbulent times of the early Meiji period. Chinzan was born into a samurai family, so he only took disciples from the samurai class. Unsō was a former shogunate retainer, so he was allowed to study under Chinzan, and his natural talent for coloring was admired by Chinzan. It is said that when Chinzan was busy, he asked Unsō to teach his disciples (more than 30), including Watanabe Shōka and Tsubaki Kakoku.<\/p>\n

The painting of magnolia, a hall crabapple and peony is called “Gyokudō-Fuki-Zu (a painting of wealth and fame)” and the painting combines all three, with a large white flowering magnolia at the top and white-red, and purple peonies swaying in the wind at the bottom. Peony was a specialty of the artists in the Kazan Watanabe and Tsubaki Chinzan families, and this painting is no exception. The mokkotsu technique, which he probably learned from Chinzan, is particularly effective on peony flowers and leaves. The beauty of the coloring is also fully demonstrated in the peonies and the red-tinted hall crabapples. The reason why there are so few remaining works by Unsō, who excelled in paintings of flowers and birds, may be that he suffered a hard time in his life as a samurai and a painter before and after the Meiji Restoration. In each of his works, there are faint traces of his study of Tsubaki Chinzan. Unsō died in Tokyo in 1896.<\/p>\n

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