Stand-in Fugen

Kitao Masayoshi (1764-1824) was a Japanese painter and printmaker known for the elegantly composed paintings of Buddhist and secular subjects that make him one of the accomplished painters of the late Edo period. Stand-in Fugen from the late 1700s-early 1800s depicts a stand-in for Fugen (Samantabhadra)—one of the most important bodhisattvas in Buddhism—in the elegantly composed manner that distinguishes Masayoshi's best work from the more general painting of his contemporaries. Fugen (Samantabhadra) is the bodhisattva of practice and meditation, and Masayoshi's elegantly composed treatment shows the Buddhist painting tradition at its most refined in the late Edo period.

Stand-in Fugen is important in the history of Japanese painting because it demonstrates the elegantly composed manner of the late Edo period painting tradition as applied to one of the most important bodhisattvas in Buddhism. Fugen (Samantabhadra)—the bodhisattva of practice and meditation—is one of the most important bodhisattvas in Buddhism, and paintings depicting Fugen represent one of the most accomplished traditions in Japanese Buddhist painting. The late 1700s-early 1800s painting shows this tradition at its most elegantly composed.

Stand-in Fugen is Masayoshi's elegantly composed Edo Buddhist painting: a stand-in for Fugen (Samantabhadra) rendered in the composed manner of one of the accomplished painters of the late Edo period. The late 1700s-early 1800s painting shows the Buddhist painting tradition at its most elegantly composed.