The Discovery of Style in 16th-century Eastern Japan - Aaron Rio Lecture

This talk by Aaron Rio, Associate Curator of Japanese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, takes a recently rediscovered painting by the prolific but little known Japanese painter Keison as a starting point to examine the contours of ink painting in late medieval eastern Japan. Active around the middle of the 16th century in the eastern Kantō region, Keison’s oeuvre reveals proficiency in a specific array of painting styles, some rooted in Kantō and others newly imported from Kyoto. Aaron explores each of these styles, their sources, and Keison’s handling of them through a close look at a selection of his extant works.