Shiba Kōkan

Shiba Kōkan (司馬江漢)(1747-1818), also known as Suzuki Harushige (鈴木春重), was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period, famous both for his Western-style "yōga" paintings, in imitation of Dutch oil painting styles, methods, and themes, which he painted as Kōkan, and his ukiyo-e prints, primarily forgeries of the works of Suzuki Harunobu, which he created under the name Harushige. Kōkan did not seek to hide or disguise his forgeries, and in fact is said to have boasted of his ability to forge the great master so well.

A student of Suzuki Harunobu, Sō Shiseki, and Hiraga Gennai, Kōkan mastered a number of very different styles, and was also a great innovator, exploring new methods and styles on his own. He became the first Japanese artist, in 1783, to use copperplate engraving to successful effect. Following Harunobu's death in 1770, Kōkan placed Harunobu's signature on a number of his own prints, which were supposedly accepted as true works of Harunobu at the time. Today, art historians have noted the distinctive calligraphic style of the faked Harunobu signature, the use of Western-style perspective, and the somewhat less delicate figures in works by "Harushige" (Kōkan).

Like many other Edo period artists, Kōkan used a great variety of other names at various points in his career, though "Shiba Kōkan", "Suzuki Harushige", and close variations on those appear far more often. Variations include Shiba Shun and Suzuki Shun ("shun" being an alternate reading of the same character that forms the "haru" of Harunobu or Harushige), while his other names include Andō, Kichijirō, Katsusaburō, Fugen-dōjin, Kungaku, Rantei, and Shunparō.

Kōkan lived in Nagasaki, and was a student of "rangaku" (Dutch studies) in addition to his pursuits as an artist. Interested in astronomy in particular, he wrote and illustrated a book on Copernicus' theories, entitled "Kopperu temmon zukai" (コッペル天文図解, Illustrated Explanation of Copernicus' Astronomy).

References

*Frederic, Louis (2002). "Japan Encyclopedia." Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
*Lane, Richard (1978). "Images of the Floating World." Old Saybrook, CT: Konecky & Konecky.