A World of Edo Art
Ganku (1749/56–1839) was a prominent Kyoto painter who founded the Kishi School of painting. Born into humble means, he taught himself how to paint while apprenticed at an indigo dyer's shop. Later, he studied Kanō School paintings and then the more naturalistic style of Shen Nanpin, a Chinese painter. Incorporating the Maruyama Ōkyo-School shasei technique of painting from nature, Ganku developed his own unique style. He is renowned for his meticulously brushed paintings of animals, especially his formidable tigers. But given that tigers were not native to Japan, Ganku is said to have modeled his tigers on a tiger skull and skins imported from China.
