円山応挙 革新者から巨匠へ（三井記念美術館） Maruyama Okyo: From Innovator to Great Master (Mitsui Memorial Museum)

訪れた主な目的は、香川の金刀比羅宮の襖絵だった。

以前、金刀比羅宮を訪れた時に、見た記憶があるが、久しぶりの再会となった。

虎の剥製などを写生して、虎の生態を研究していた円山応挙だが、やはり実物を見ていないせいだろうか、その虎の姿は、少し太り気味で、猫をそのまま大きくして描いたような、そんな印象が拭えない。

三井家は、円山応挙のパトロンだった。三井家の人々を身近で描いた”夕涼み図”などの作品も展示されていた。

『奇想の系譜』の作者、辻 惟雄は、自分の本によって、”王道”である円山応挙よりも伊藤若冲や曾我蕭白が有名になってしまったことに、やや複雑な心境を抱いていたという。

その伊藤若冲と円山応挙が”共作した”竹鶏図屏風（若冲）と梅鯉図屏風（応挙）は、それぞれの得意な画題が描かれていて、とても見応えがあった。

”青楓瀑布図”は、サントリー美術館で見たことがあったが、小さな部屋で照明を駆使した展示方法は、この絵の魅力を十二分に引き出していた。

My main reason for visiting was to see the sliding screen paintings at Kotohira Shrine in Kagawa.

I remember seeing them on a previous visit to Kotohira Shrine, so it was a long time since I last saw them.

Maruyama Okyo studied tiger behavior by sketching stuffed tigers, but perhaps because he had never seen the real thing, the tiger in this painting appears a little overweight, giving the impression that it was a blown-up version of a cat.

The Mitsui family was Maruyama Okyo's patron. Works on display included "Enjoying the CoolEvening," which depicts the Mitsui family members in an up-close setting.

Tsuji Tsuneo, author of "The Genealogy of Eccentric Ideas," apparently had mixed feelings about the fact that his book had made Ito Jakuchu and Soga Shohaku more famous than the "mainstream" Maruyama Okyo.

The Bamboo and Chicken Screen (Jakuchu) and Plum Blossom and Carp Screen (Okyo), which were "collaborative works" by Ito Jakuchu and Maruyama Okyo, feature subjects that each artist is particularly fond of, and were truly worth seeing.

I had seen "Green Maple Waterfall" at the Suntory Museum of Art, and the way it was displayed in a small room, making full use of lighting, really brought out the painting's charm.