Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons (Important Cultural Property)

Exhibition of Kano Motonobu who built the foundation of “Kano school”, the largest painting school in Japanese art history

From September 16th to November 5th, 2017, “Kano Motonobu: All Under Heaven Bowed to His Brush” will be held.
Kano Motonobu (1477?-1559) was the second-generation head of the Kano school, which maintained its central role in the art world for about four centuries, starting in the Muromachi period. The Kano school was a group of professional artists with members of the Kano family, connected by blood, at its core. The son of the school’s founder, Kano Masanobu (1434-1530), Motonobu possessed superb artistic skills, and his work was the most highly regarded among all Kano school artists. He also demonstrated outstanding abilities as the leader of the Kano atelier. Those achievements laid the foundations for the Kano school’s continued success, as his grandson Eitoku (1543-90) and Eitoku’s grandson Tan’yu (1602-74), as well as later masters, carried on his work. The Kano school, which became painters by appointment to the Tokugawa shogunate, thrived as the largest and longest-lasting school in Japanese art history. Yet despite its duration, its glory cannot be described without focusing on Motonobu.
This exhibition introduces the breadth of Motonobu’s oeuvre, principally through his masterpieces. They are shown alongside paintings by his brilliant predecessors, whom he studied, to highlight a fascinating world of rich tradition.

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