Background
Kano Motonobu was born on August 28, 1476 in Japan. He was the son of Kano Masanobu, the founder of the Kano school.
Kano Motonobu was born on August 28, 1476 in Japan. He was the son of Kano Masanobu, the founder of the Kano school.
Since Kano Motonobu was a son and heir of the founder of the Kano School, Kano Masanobu, he was likely trained in Kanga (Chinese-style ink painting) by his father.
Motonobu was only nine, when he began to serve the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa and then his successors: Ashikaga Yoshitane, Yoshizumi and Yoshiharu. One member of the elite was Hosokawa Takakuni, who commissioned Motonobu to paint a set of narrative handscrolls in 1513. They are entitled "Kurama-dera engi".
During his lifetime, Motonobu headed a small Kano sect in northern Kyoto. Since Motonobu was the head or chief architect of these paintings, he took on the contracting, production and organization of the projects, while still being very involved with the marketing of his work and his studio.
Despite the fact, that the painter spent much time for marketing, he didn't cease to paint. As a result of Motonobu's marketing skills, the commissions grew, allowing the workshop to expand. Kano Motonobu trained members of his family and other artists in his workshop.
Motonobu’s clients were from the imperial court and merchant classes mainly in Kyoto and Sakai. One of his earliest documented contracts was for a set of votive plaques (e-ma). These plaques depicted the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. It was ordered by a group of Sakai merchants in 1515 for the Shinto shrine of Itsukushima in what is now Hiroshima Prefecture. The Sanjonishi family liked Motonobu’s work and in 1536 they invited him to give a painting performance. This family was well associated with the imperial court. The performance was done on a two-panel folding screen and performed in front of a group of guests.
Fan
A Picture of Sumimoto Hosokawa on Horseback
洛中洛外図屏風、
Painting on Zen Enlightenment (Sanping baring his chest and Shigong stretching his bow)
Painting of a Snow Landscape of Japan
Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons
Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons
洛中洛外図屏風
琴棋書画図屏風
Waterfall
洛中洛外図屏風
Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons
Ema by Kano Motonobu, Kamo Jinja, Tatsuno, Hyogo, Japan
洛中洛外図屏風
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洛中洛外図屏風
The Daoist Immortal Huang Chuping
酒飯論絵巻(狩野元信筆)の江戸時代の模本。原本は室町時代の作。
『源平合戦図屏風』
Left Screen
Right Screen
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Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons
Portrait of Hosokawa Takakuni
Scroll
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洛中洛外図屏風
洛中洛外図屏風
Motonobu was married to the daughter of the head of the Tosa School of painting. The couple had three sons — Shoei, Yusetsu and Joshin.
