Ch: wenrenhua. Lit. literati painting. A type of painting in China, Korea, and Japan. In Japan, the term bunjinga is often used synonymously with the term *nanga 南画.
In addition to mastering classical literature, history, and philosophy, Chinese scholars practiced calligraphy and painting. The style of painting developed by literati—featuring personally expressive, apparently casual brushwork, primarily in *sumi 墨 ink—was somewhat different from the more polished, detailed styles generally practiced by professional painters. Chinese literati painting eventually was designated as Southern school painting *nanshūga 南宗画 (Ch: nanzonghua). Landscape and selected plants such as bamboo and orchids became dominant subject matter or themes, reflecting in part the scholar's desire to commune spiritually with nature.
Some knowledge of the Chinese literati painting tradition existed in Japan during the Muromachi period, but it was not until the middle of the Edo period that circumstances encouraged it to become a full-fledged artistic movement. Interest was nurtured by the Tokugawa 徳川 shogunate's promotion of Confucianism and Chinese culture. However, in Japan the concepts of bunjin 文人 and bunjinga were broadened. Chinese wenren were members of a scholar-gentry class who normally held positions in the bureaucracy, but Japanese bunjin were men and women of varied backgrounds, social classes, and occupations. Travel to China was forbidden, so Japanese learned the fundamentals of literati painting through studying imported paintings and woodblock-printed painting manuals, and occasionally through direct contacts with visiting Chinese artists such as I Fujiu (Jp: I Fukyū 伊孚九 fl. first half of 18th century). Their models were mixed, including works by Ming and Qing dynasties professional painters, as well as by true literati. Japanese practitioners did not always distinguish between the Northern lineage *hokushūga 北宗画, and the Southern lineage, especially during the early phases of bunjinga. Artists of the Kano school, *Kano-ha 狩野派, also painted in a Chinese-derived style, but in general Japanese bunjin in the 18th century regarded the newly introduced Southern styles as superior and dismissed academic Kano work as superficial and stereotyped.
Among the early bunjinga pioneers were Gion Nankai 祇園南海 (1677-1751), Yanagisawa Kien 柳沢淇園 (1704-58), and Sakaki Hyakusen 彭城百川 (1697-1752). Nankai and Kien belonged to the samurai 侍 class and had official governmental posts; they painted as a hobby and thus somewhat resembled China's scholar gentry. However, Hyakusen was a townsman and a professional painter. In China, literati theoretically painted for their own pleasure and did not market their works, but in Japan many bunjin artists like Hyakusen openly made painting or teaching their livelihood. The patrons for bunjinga were people from a variety of backgrounds who were interested in Chinese culture. Japanese bunjin artists generally remained closer to Chinese models during this first phase, although the artistic styles vary dramatically, ranging from austere ink landscapes and bamboo paintings to colorful figures and decorative bird-and-flower paintings *kachōga 花鳥画.
Bunjinga steadily grew more popular and by the late 18th-early 19th century was being practiced by a broad spectrum of artists in provincial Japan, as well as in the urban centers of Kyoto, Naniwa 浪速 (Osaka), and Edo. Three artists who stand out are Ike no Taiga 池大雅 (1723-76), his wife Gyokuran 玉瀾 (1727-84), and Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-84). They are credited with transforming an essentially Chinese tradition into one having a Japanese flavor. In particular, their work features a bolder sense of compositional design, less brushwork layering, more patterned application of brushstrokes, and a more comprehensive distribution of ink and color. The decreased sense of spatial depth is offset by provocative surface textures.
Moreover, unlike their Chinese contemporaries, the early generations of Japanese bunjin felt free to experiment with a range of stylistic models. This spirit of individualism is well represented by artists such as Uragami Gyokudō 浦上玉堂 (1754-1820), Okada Beisanjin 岡田米山人 (1744-1820), and Tani Bunchō 谷文晁 (1763-1840). The following generation of bunjin began to paint with less innovation in styles that more closely resembled Chinese models. This conservative trend is obvious in the works of Nakabayashi Chikutō 中林竹洞 (1776-1853), Yamamoto Baiitsu 山本梅逸 (1783-1856), and Gyokudō's son, Uragami Shunkin 浦上春琴 (1779-1846), who limited their range of compositions and refined their brushwork to conform with designated Chinese models. As a result, bunjinga produced from the mid 19th century exhibits a uniformity of style and composition. A similar phenomenon had occurred in Qing dynasty academic painting. However, despite efforts to be faithful to their Chinese mentors, later bunjinga is still characterized by a Japanese sense of surface design. Occasionally some late 19th-century bunjin ignored the prevailing norms and painted in boldly idiosyncratic manners, but they were exceptions.
Bunjinga continued to be enthusiastically practiced and collected into the early Meiji period, but by the 1880s interest had begun to fade in response to growing fascination with Western oil painting *yōga 洋画, and the developing modern style of Japanese painting *nihonga 日本画. With the West replacing China as the culture to emulate, trends in education and art followed suit, and bunjinga ceased to be a viable painting tradition.