[Update, Mar 2] This event has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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The Kano School dominated Japanese painting for several hundred years, from the late 15th century through to the dawn of the Meiji period in 1868. Bringing vivid colouring and firm outlines to a style inspired by the work of Chinese painters, the Kano ‘school’ was infact more of a family: many of its artists came from the same bloodline, with others being adopted or marrying into the clan. Sometimes extravagant, sometimes refined, works by Kano painters (often commissioned by emperors and shoguns) responded to the changing times, and reflected the fact that the Kano were well-read intellectuals as well as artists. This exhibition presents paintings from several generations of Kano artists, together with other works which inspired their creativity.