A World of Edo Art
The Kanō School (16th–19th centuries) painters dominated the field of official paintings for nearly four centuries, serving as painters to generations of shogun while training future artists in studios located in many urban centers. Their clients included samurai, the aristocracy, Buddhist priests, and wealthy merchants. They are celebrated for the folding screens and sliding doors they created for massive castles and ornate temples across Japan, typically of dynamic scenes bursting with natural and supernatural animals and landscapes set against gold-leaf backgrounds that convey the power and wealth of their patrons. The Kanō studio system provided sophisticated compositional ideas and ever-evolving painting styles that endured throughout the Edo period. Their powerful political connections and organizational skills profoundly influenced Japan's art world for four centuries.
