The Art Of The Wheel Of Life By Taikan Yokoyama

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Taikan Yokoyama’s first work of art that brought him fame is called Selflessness (see appendix A). He created this in 1897 and it is currently in the Tokyo National Museum. Selflessness is color on silk and measures 56 ¼ x 43 ¼ in. It shows a young boy at the waterside, wearing a wide-sleeved, oversized kimono in the Heian period (782-1185). Taikan studied the pattern and cut of the kimono for the Heian period. The willows were drawn using a traditional technique while the bright coloring and innocent features of the young boy showed Taikan’s originality. The skillful use of line and coloring in this painting was acquired when he studied his old masters’ works and made copies of them. Taikan chose the figure of a young boy standing to represent his ideal of Zen Buddhism, selflessness. He was awarded the Copper Medal in the second exhibition of the Japan Painting Society.
Another famous work painted by Taikan Yokoyama is called The Wheel of Life (see appendix B). Taikan drew this in 1923 and it is part of a private collection preserved in the Tokyo National Museum. The Wheel of Life is a “… monumental horizontal hand scroll, measuring almost forty meters in length. It is ink on silk and measures 21 ¾ x 1,521 in. It shows the flow of a river from its birth in the mountains to its emergence in the sea and ascent into the clouds to complete the cycle” (Miyagawa, 65). The river is used to portray both landscape scenes and the ups and downs of human life. Yokoyama had used imported Chinese ink for this piece of work. The intense, glossy tone of the Chinese ink suited the subject very well. With the ink, he used all the techniques he had ever learned about ink painting in this work of art.
As Taikan traveled to India with another fello...

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... style. The conservatives called his works using the “moro-tai” technique as “… desecrations of the Oriental Spirit” (Weatherby, 4). However, this did not stop Taikan Yokoyama from painting. Hence, his paintings became gentle and full of sentiment, showing greater depth of poetic insight than his earlier works of art. As his style changed, the public changed as well and admired his paintings.
VI. Conclusion
No other painter played such an important role in the development of modern Japanese art than Taikan Yokoyama. Taikan used a variety of styles and produced many significant works of art. He was constantly looking for new ways to develop and glorify the Japanese style. When Okakura Tenshin, the director of Tokyo School of Fine Arts, passed away, Taikan Yokoyama took over and continued to lead other artists in the development of a modern style of Japanese art.

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