Daughters of the Ateliers

Her Brush: Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection Online Exhibition Guide

In Japan, painting traditions were commonly passed down in the form of apprenticeships or from father to son. Some lineages like the Kanō school of painting endured for centuries. These professional painters subsisted through the patronage of wealthy clients.

Artists in this section emerged from such artistic families and, thanks to their talent and tenacity, became sought-after artists and continued their family’s artistic legacy while creating their own distinctive interpretations.

Some, like Kiyohara Yukinobu, chose to sign their works with the term uji-me (literally, daughter of the clan), identifying themselves as upholders of their family’s artistic school.

A slender, elegantly dressed woman in flowing robes sits crosslegged on a tuft of grass upon a rock. She strums a lute that rests in her lap. Behind her is a vague suggestion of a landscape, and a large, moon-like orb frames the top half of her body.

Kiyohara Yukinobu 清原雪信
1643–1682
The Goddess Benzaiten and Her Lute (biwa)
1660s–80s
Ink, color, and gold on silk
Gift of Drs. John Fong and Colin Johnstone, 2018.150

Famous during her lifetime, Kiyohara Yukinobu was a professional painter like her great uncle, Kanō Tan’yū, who led the Kanō school of painting in his time. Signing her works with “Brush of Yukinobu, Daughter of the Kiyohara Clan,” she identified with the family’s atelier.

The figure strumming a lute (biwa) is Benzaiten, patron-goddess of music and wisdom in Buddhism. The delicate treatment of the facial features, wooden instrument, and textiles contrasts with the broader, bolder brushstrokes of the landscape, as was characteristic of the Kanō school.

Her Brush: Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection is organized by the Denver Art Museum and made possible through the generous gift of the John Fong and Colin Johnstone collection. Support is provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Blakemore Foundation, the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign, and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS Colorado.