Full Name: Okakura, Tenshin
Other Names:
- Tenshin Kakuz Okakura
Gender: male
Date Born: 1863
Date Died: 1913
Place Born: Yokohama, Fukui, Japan
Place Died: Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Home Country/ies: Japan
Subject Area(s): Asian, Japanese (culture or style), Japanese painting styles, Nihonga, and painting (visual works)
Career(s): curators
Overview
Museum curator and historian of Japanese painting. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in 1880, Okakura became a member of the Ministry of Education. His interests later turned to art education, allowing him to travel to Europe and America to do research on art education methods. Upon his return to Japan, Okakura was appointed head of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. His leadership encouraged artists to develop a new style of painting that combined the conventional style of the Japanese painting technique Nihonga with Western realism. After resigning from the School of Fine Arts in 1898, Okakura created the Japan Art Institute. His interest in Western painting, and his knowledge of Japanese painting styles led Okakura to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where he served as both an advisor and as the head of the East Asian department.
Selected Bibliography
The Ideals of the East: with Special Reference to the Art of Japan. London: J. Murray, 1920; The Awakening of Japan. New York: Special ed. for Japan Society, Inc., 1921.
Sources
The Dictionary of Art
Contributors: LaNitra Michele Walker