Rinpa: A World of Things
Words by Katherine Elliott
Rinpa School is considered one of the major movements in Japanese painting. Having its origins in 17th-century Kyoto with the works of Hon’ami Kōetsu and Tawaraya Sōtatsu, the aesthetic was further popularised by Ogata Kōrin and Ogata Kenzan. The term ‘Rinpa’ was conceived in the Meiji period, which takes the last syllable of ‘Kōrin’ (Ogata Kōrin) and combines it with ‘pa’ (school). Despite its designation as a school, typically defined as a group of artists sharing the same style, teachers and location, it is perhaps more accurate to consider Rinpa as an artistic tradition revisited periodically by different generations of Japanese artists.
Works that make up the Rinpa aesthetic often take the form of domestic objects, such as screens, hanging scrolls, ceramics, textiles, paintings and cloisonné enamels. Whilst works by artists from the movement are now displayed in galleries around the world, upon their creation, many Rinpa pieces were displayed in the homes of wealthy merchant or aristocratic families.
“The lights of the moon, clear and radiant, pours through rifts in the clouds, buffeted by autumn breezes.”
Rinpa’s subject matter is characterised first and foremost by artists’ depictions of nature. In contrast to classical Western art tradition’s preoccupation with representations of the body and the human form, Rinpa artists typically depict trees, flower forms, waves and birds. Beyond this fixation on natural forms, Rinpa as a movement is inherently nostalgic. Not only due to the movement being rediscovered by successive generations but also due to its strong ties to literary themes of courtly love with many works referencing classical texts, such as The Ise Stories (Ise monogatari) and The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari).
An aesthetic movement that is built upon looking beyond the self and existing within a world of things, taking its inspiration from nature or tales of the past, the Rinpa School is as influential today as ever.
