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Sesshū Tōyō
Japanese painter (c. 1420–1506) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sesshū Tōyō (雪舟 等楊, c. 1420 – August 26, 1506), also known simply as Sesshū (雪舟), was a Japanese Zen monk and painter who is considered a great master of Japanese ink painting. Initially inspired by Chinese landscapes, Sesshū's work holds a distinctively Japanese style that reflects Zen Buddhist aesthetics.[1] His prominent work captured images of landscapes, portraits, and birds and flowers paintings, infused with Zen Buddhist beliefs, flattened perspective, and emphatic lines.[2]
Sesshū | |
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![]() A 16th century copy of Sesshū's 1491 self-portrait | |
Title |
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Personal | |
Born | c. 1420 |
Died | 26 August 1506 (aged 85–86) |
Religion | Buddhism |
School | Rinzai |
Senior posting | |
Teacher | Tenshō Shūbun |
Sesshū was born into the samurai Oda family (小田家) and trained at Shōkoku-ji temple in Kyoto, Japan, as a Zen monk.[1] From his early childhood, Sesshū showed a talent for painting and eventually became widely revered throughout Japan as a wise, reputable Zen scholar, and the greatest painter priest of Zen-Shu.[3]
Sesshū worked in a painting atelier whilst training under Tenshō Shūbun (c. 1418–1463). But upon visiting China, his work took on a distinctive Chinese influence, merging Japanese and Chinese styles to develop his individualistic style of Zen paintings.[3] Sesshū's influence on painting was so wide that many schools of art appointed him their founder.[4] Sesshū's most acclaimed works are Winter Landscape (c. 1470s), Birds and Flowers (1420–1506) and Four Landscape Scrolls of the Seasons (1420–1506).