The name Ogata Kōrin (1658-1716) evokes the image of that great painter as a leader in the Genroku era (1688-1704), when townsmen were the cultural movers and shakers. Kōrin’s masterpiece from his mid forties, the Irises screens, have a central position in that image. Taking a broader perspective, however, we see him immersed in the arts and culture of the early-modern period , led by the imperial court and the shogunate, in the first half of his life, and then, in the second half, laying the foundations for the Kyoto art world of the latter half of the eighteenth century, in which strikingly individual artists such as Maruyama Ōkyo and Itō Jakuchū flourished.
This exhibition is composed of works created during Kōrin’s lifetime, with the Irises screens their focus. Through them, explore snippets of six decades of the history of painting.