SHINGEI

also called Geiami died 1485, Japan Japanese artist who represents the second generation of an extraordinary family of painters and art connoisseurs and who served the Ashikaga shoguns (a family of military dictators that ruled Japan, 13381573). Shingei succeeded his father, Shinno (Noami), as curator of the Ashikaga art collection, but as an artist he followed Tensho Shubun (early to mid-15th century), the foremost suiboku (monochromatic ink painting) painter who, in turn, had been inspired by the Chinese landscape masters Hsia Kuei and Ma Yan (active 12th century AD). Shingei's most famous painting, The Waterfall (1480; in the Nezu Art Museum in Tokyo), is executed in the Tensho Shubun manner; but its pronounced stylization represents a significantly greater departure from the original Chinese landscape paintings. Shingei's style was continued by his disciple Kei Shoki, for whom The Waterfall was painted as a parting gift.