Lotus from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin

Shibata Zeshin

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Shibata Zeshin

Japanese · 1807–1891

Shibata Zeshin was a Japanese lacquer painter and print artist of the late Edo period and early Meiji era. He has been called "Japan's greatest lacquerer", but his reputation as painter and print artist is more complex: In Japan, he is known as both too modern, a panderer to the Westernization movement, and also an overly conservative traditionalist who did nothing to stand out from his contemporaries. Despite holding this complicated reputation in Japan, Zeshin has come to be well regarded and much studied among the art world of the West, in Britain and the United States in particular.

Independent artist guide by Momentable. Biography from Wikipedia; artworks credited to the museums that hold them.

Stream Shibata Zeshin Wikipedia

Lotus from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin — The living window: art moves here the way it moves in your living room.

works in the archive: 18works in the archive
life: 1807–1891life
rights: Public domainrights

The work

A selection of 12 works, free to stream.

New Ferns from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Teapot and Cups from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Maple Leaves and Feather from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Peasant with Basket from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Nagisa Palace from the Tales of Ise
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Moths from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Crescent Moon from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Brush, Holder, and Leaves from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Shoreline with Birds from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Birds in Snow from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

Mouse from Album of Paintings by the Venerable Zeshin
Shibata Zeshin
The Cleveland Museum of Art

How Shibata Zeshin worked

From the record of their own practice.

Zeshin experimented with the technical aspects of lacquer. He mixed his lacquers with a variety of substances to achieve different colors and textures, and to control the consistency and flexibility. He invented a method of painting with lacquer sap directly on paper sized with dōsa (a solution of alum and animal glue), to prevent flaking when his urushi-e scroll paintings were rolled up. He used bronze in his lacquer to simulate the appearance and texture of iron, and cereal starch to thicken his lacquer to simulate, at least in some respects, the effect of Western oil painting. Zeshin remains, in fact, the only artist to be successful in the medium of urushi-e, as it requires specially treated paper, and a very particular consistency of lacquer to be used as paint.