Ōshima Joun

In this Japanese name, the family name is "Ōshima".

Bronze Vase by Oshima Joun

Ōshima Joun^[1] (大島如雲^?, 1858 – 1940) was a Japanese sculptor and artist, noted for his great artistry and skill in bronze casting. There appears to be some debate about the correct attribution of the gō (or art-name) Ōshima Joun to either Ōshima Katsujiro^[2] or his brother Ōshima Yasutaro.^[3] Both were noted artists in metal, so the other gō in use at the time, Ōshima Shōkaku^[4] (var. Shokaken^[5] ), could belong to either brother, thus an authoritative history of the matter is needed. The two brothers managed a workshop under the business name Sanseisha, which during the period 1875 to 1879 "produced some of the finest bronzes ever produced in Japan."^[6]

Career

Oshima Joun exhibited at the London Japan-British Exhibition of 1910.

Joun was born to a family of metalworkers and was famous for his skill in casting bronze. He was the son of Ōshima Takajiro, whose own father Ōshima Yasubei was the first metal craftsman in the family.^[7] He was a professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (東京美術学校 Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō; name changed in 2008 to Tokyo University of the Arts) from 1887 until 1932. The studio, Sanseisha, was very successful and at one point employed 11 assistants. Many of Joun's students (Ryūki, Chōkichi Suzuki (see mention in Victoria and Albert Museum), Sessei Okazaki, Kumazō Hasegawa, Gorosaburō Kanaya, Eisuke Jomi) went on to achieve distinction of their own.^[8] He exhibited at the 2nd National Industrial Exposition in 1881, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle (1900), and the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910.^[9]

Ōshima Joun died in Tokyo on January 4, 1940, at 83 years old.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ Ōshima is the surname. Within text in English, Ōshima is sometimes rendered “Oshima” (without the long "o" signifier, which is usually an artifact of older printing conventions, and not of different pronunciation); and the full name is often written in reverse order, with given name first and family name last.
2. ^ As one of the oldest English language sources available on this name attribution issue, the authors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica of 1911 argue for Katsujiro in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911. s.v. "Japan/Bronze Casting." Cambridge:University Press. Similarly, in 1991, Impey and Fairley argue for Katsujiro in The Dragon King of the Sea, 1991. Oxford:Ashmolean Museum.
3. ^ As probably the most authoritative modern source in English, Fairley, Harris, and Impey argue for Yasutaro in Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan:Metalwork Part II (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art) Entry no. 102. "Oshima Joun." 1995. London: Kibo Foundation.
4. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911. s.v. "Japan/Bronze Casting." Cambridge:University Press.
5. ^ Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan:Metalwork Part II (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art) Entry no. 102. "Oshima Joun." 1995. London: Kibo Foundation.
6. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911. s.v. "Japan/Bronze Casting." Cambridge:University Press.
7. ^ Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan:Metalwork Part II (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art) Entry no. 102. "Oshima Joun." 1995. London: Kibo Foundation.
8. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., 1911. s.v. "Japan/Bronze Casting." Cambridge:University Press."
9. ^ Kagedo Japanese Art Gallery - Meiji-Taisho Art online: http://www.kagedo.com/collections/2/KJA1550.html
10. ^ http://www.tobunken.go.jp/japanese/bukko/1940.html Obituary at National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Accessed 12-11-2010

References

• Meiji no Takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan:Metalwork Part II (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art) Entry no. 102. "Oshima Joun." 1995. London: Kibo Foundation.
• Clark, John. 2001. Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, continental Europe, and the USA: Papers and Research Materials Sydney: Power Publications, 89, 334–335.
• Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley. 1911. The Dragon King of the Sea, Oxford:Ashmolean Museum.

External links

• Ōshima Joun holdings at the University Art Museum of Tokyo University of the Arts
• Instructors Ōshima Joun (Jo'un Oshima) and Sessei Okazaki are listed in this too-brief history paragraph of the Metal Casting Department of the Tokyo University of the Arts as leaders of the arts and crafts movement in Japan
• Ōshima Joun on Artnet.com
• Ōshima Joun at Bonhams

Persondata
Name	Ōshima Joun
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1858
Place of birth
Date of death	1940
Place of death