Mori Sosen
Japanese, 1741 - 1821
Japanese painter. He probably began his training under his father, the Osaka painter Mori Jokansai [Hanaya Seibei] (d 1777). He is recorded as studying with Okamoto Yu-koku ( fl 18th century), who also taught his father and his elder brother, Mori Shu-ho- (1738–1823), and with the Kano- school painter Yamamoto [Shobei] Joshunsai (1721–84). Sosen is also known to have associated with many prominent artists and scholars who lived in or passed through Osaka, including the Confucian scholar and patron Kimura Kenkado- and the literati painters Tani Buncho- and Tanomura Chikuden. His acquaintance with Maruyama o-kyo can only be assumed because his adopted son Mori Tetsuzan [Tessan] (1775–1841) was one of O-kyo’s ‘Ten Great Disciples’, but O-kyo’s influence is evident in Sosen’s work.
Sosen and his brothers comprised the first generation of the Osaka-based Mori school, which is generally viewed as an independent branch of the Maruyama–Shijo- school (see Japan, §VI, 4(viii)). Like the Maruyama–Shijo- school, the Mori school emphasized verisimilitude in the portrayal of objects from nature and favoured the depiction of landscapes, animals, plants and the human figure. Both groups were patronized by urban merchants, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Sosen was not the oldest painter in the Mori family, but he was considered the best, and by 1790 he was the head of the school. He specialized in the depiction of animals and is considered the foremost Japanese painter of monkeys, which he is reputed to have observed in their natural habitat so as to be able to represent them accurately. So closely was he associated with paintings of monkeys that c. 1807 he changed part of the character so (‘ancestor’) in his name Sosen to its homonym meaning ‘monkey’.
Sosen’s work was enormously popular, and his output was prodigious, but dated paintings by him are rare, and a chronological development in his style is difficult to postulate. (This is further complicated by numerous forgeries, some produced before his death.) Monkeys in Stone Lanterns in the Snow (Ikeda, Itsuo- A. Mus.) represents a blend of various artistic traditions. The way in which he combined realistic detail with more abstract elements produces a dramatic effect: landscape elements such as the foliage, rendered by means of dark, angular strokes (a conservative Kano--school device), and the snow-covered stone lanterns defined by modulated washes (a technique pioneered by Maruyama O-kyo) contrast with the meticulous manner of delineating the monkeys’ fur. His gift for capturing the life-spirit of the monkeys is revealed in their carefully observed poses. Beyond his skill in portraying the animal’s outward appearance, Sosen also imbued his monkeys with compellingly lifelike personalities, a characteristic that elevates his art above that of his contemporaries in this genre. Later Mori-school followers were principally trained by Sosen’s adopted son Mori Tetsuzan and by the latter’s adopted sons Mori Ippo- (1798–1871) and Mori Kansai (1814–94) and pupil Wada Gesshin [Gozan] (1800–70).
Patricia J. Graham. "Mori Sosen." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T059644 (accessed May 8, 2012).
Person TypeIndividual
French, 1864 - 1901
