"A History of Puppy Paintings: Enjoyable Japanese Art"

2022/12/16

If this book sells well, even if the primary credit goes to Maruyama Okyo, the second most important person must be the designer Yasuhiro Shimauchi, who conceived the cover. Initially, after discussions with the publisher and editor, we decided to use a scene of three puppies playing, painted by Okyo, and Mr. Shimauchi created it accordingly. However, the actual book cover that appeared at the same time featured a "super close-up" of a single puppy's head. I was amazed by Mr. Shimauchi's eye for detail. The book cover itself isn't visible unless you remove the jacket, and it's printed in monochrome. There's a chance readers might never see it. We agreed that would be a waste and decided to use it for the color jacket, resulting in the design you see now. It is now being displayed "face-out" in bookstores across the country, seemingly spreading its charm.

This book is a history of painting that explores how puppy paintings introduced from China and Korea evolved in Japan. The editor and I spent five years planning the structure and selected 116 works. Compared to the Kano school and Ito Jakuchu, whose puppies show strong Chinese and Korean influences, Okyo—a realist painter of the mid-Edo period—introduced the innovation of "painting them as if they were real" while building on that foundation. His influence on his contemporaries and future generations was immense. It was the editor's idea to gather as many of Okyo's paintings as possible under the title "19 Selections of Okyo's Dogs" to further emphasize their importance.

An Edo-period book records that Soga Shohaku, a contemporary painter known for his eccentricity, disparaged Okyo's paintings as "diagrams" rather than "art." Even today, with the progress of art history research, some still find Okyo's paintings—which lack any sense of raw emotion—to be cold or superficial. Okyo, who calmly captured forms and avoided infusing his brushwork with emotion, essentially detached himself from his subjects to express a clear beauty. However, puppies were an exception. His technique was complex, carefully layering "living" brushstrokes with thin ink and pigments. Most eloquent of all are the eyes. He would define the shape in light brown, then add the eyelids and pupils while letting the ink bleed. The puppies created this way have almost human-like expressions—sometimes timid, sometimes mischievous—and are full of "soul." Looking at the cover of this book, I am filled with joy to see that Okyo possessed such a rich, human repertoire.

"A History of Puppy Paintings: Enjoyable Japanese Art"

Nobuhisa Kaneko

Kodansha

192 pages, 2,860 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and job titles are as of the time of publication.