Keywords
Art History
Painting
Document
Lit. Worthless Discussion of Painting. A late 18th-century three-volume treatise on painting by sinophile, Southern School *nanga 南画 artist Nakayama Kōyō 中山高陽 (1717-80). Dated to 1775 in the preface, the work criticizes the *Kano-ha 狩野派 for rigidity of training and style, and praises nanga painting. Following Dong Qiqang's (Jp: Tō Kishō 董其昌, 1555-1636) theory, without mentioning it by name, Kōyō divides artists into professionals *eshi 絵師 and literati (see *bunjinga 文人画), criticizing the former and praising the latter. The work presents a desultory discussion of Chinese and Japanese painters and paintings as well as various painting subjects. It is reproduced in Sakazaki Tan 坂崎坦, ed., Nihon garon taikan 日本画論大観 vol. 1, pp. 839-76.