Sugai Baikang

Japanese: 菅井梅関 - すがい・ばいかん

Year of death: 11th November 1844 (28th February 1844)
Year of birth: Tenmei 4.10.27 (1784.12.9)
A painter from the late Edo period. Born in the Sendai domain. His given name was Gaku and Gakusuke, and he initially went by the pen name Tosai. He learned painting from Nemoto Jonan in his hometown, then went to Edo to study under Tani Buncho. He went to Kyoto, then studied in Nagasaki for a while, where he studied under the Chinese painter Jiang Jiafu, who had come to Japan. During this time he traveled between Kyoto and Osaka, and made friends with Rai Sanyo and Shinozaki Kotake. When Jiangfu returned to Japan, he requested a painting of plum blossoms by Baisen in ink, and upon learning that this painting had gained a reputation in China for resembling Baidojin (Wu Zhen), he took the name Baisen thereafter. He returned to his hometown, remained single for the rest of his life, and committed suicide in his later years in obscurity. He had a powerful brush and was particularly skilled in painting plum blossoms in ink. His representative works include "Plum Blossoms in Ink" (Tokyo National Museum) and "Summer and Winter Landscape Screen" (Honolulu Museum of Art).

(Tomoji Ogawa)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：弘化1.1.11(1844.2.28)
生年：天明4.10.27(1784.12.9)
江戸後期の画家。仙台藩の生まれ。名は岳,岳輔と称し,初め東斎と号した。郷里で根本常南に画を習い,江戸に出て谷文晁に学んだ。京都に上り,さらに長崎にしばらく遊学,ここで来日した清人画家江稼圃に師事した。この間京坂へ往来し,頼山陽や篠崎小竹らと交わった。稼圃が帰国に際し,梅関の墨梅図を所望したが,これが清国で梅道人(呉鎮)に似ると評判になったのを知り,以後梅関と号したという。郷里に帰り,一生を独身で通し,晩年は不遇のうちに自殺した。雄勁な筆力で,特に墨梅を得意とした。代表作に「墨梅図」(東京国立博物館蔵),「夏冬山水図屏風」(ホノルル美術館蔵)がある。

(小川知二)

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