Ike Gyokuran
March and Women's History Month is about to end soon, but we won't stop featuring women artists! :) Today we want to introduce Ike Gyokuran, who was a Japanese painter, calligrapher, and poet. She was famous in Kyoto, Japan, during her lifetime, and she remains a celebrated artist in Japan.
Gyokuran was born in 1724 and died in 1784. She was a Bunjinga painter, which was a school of Japanese painting that flourished among artists who considered themselves literati, or intellectuals and as unique and independent. They all shared admiration for traditional Chinese culture.
As a child, the artist was given the art-name Gyokuran (meaning Jewel Waves), most likely by her painting teacher Yanagisawa Kien. Later she married fellow artist Ike no Taiga, and she is best known by her married name Ike Gyokuran. The couple were renowned for their eccentricity. They created art together, mutually influencing each other, and were also known to play music together for leisure, as equals. This was highly unusual in a country where women were still widely considered inferior to men, as much as for a woman, being a painter. Also, it is noted that Gyokuran did not shave her eyebrows, as was customary for married women at the time.
In this painting of an autumn landscape with rocks and a waterfall, the artist combines soft brush lines and angular, darkly inked, calligraphic strokes.
P.S. Get to know about another female artist of the Meiji Period: Nōguchi Shōhin. <3
P.P.S. And if you love Japanese art, check out our Japanese prints with beautiful Japanese masterpieces in our Shop.