Suzuki Kiitsu

1796-1858

Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858) was a Japanese painter working in Edo within the Rinpa school, trained under its leading master Sakai Hoitsu. He is best known for large byōbu folding screens, ranging from reworkings of earlier Rinpa masterpieces — including a version of Sōtatsu's and Kōrin's Wind God and Thunder God, remade as sliding doors — to original compositions such as Morning Glories and Mountain Stream in Summer and Autumn, prized for their vivid gold-ground color and near-hallucinatory clarity of natural motifs like cypress groves, lilies and bush clovers. He also copied Sōtatsu's Waves at Matsushima and contributed to Hoitsu's compendium One Hundred Paintings by Kōrin. Long regarded as a secondary figure, Kiitsu trained numerous students and is now credited with shaping a distinct branch sometimes called the Kiitsu school of Edo Rinpa. His reputation has grown substantially in recent decades, culminating in major retrospectives held in Tokyo, Himeji and Kyoto in 2016–2017. His screens and paintings are now held in museum collections across Japan, the United States and Australia.