Landscape

Maker(s)
Artist: Soga Shohaku (1730-1781)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, ca. 1760
Medium
Ink on paper mounted on wood core
Dimensions
H x W (overall): 182.3 x 277.5 cm (71 3/4 x 109 1/4 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Purchase — Harold P. Stern Memorial Fund
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Accession Number
F1995.18
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Screen (two-panel)

Keywords
donkey, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, landscape, scholar, waterfall
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

During the Edo period (1615-1868) no Japanese artist exceeded Shohaku in the ability to endow scenes of nature with an energy that seemed on the verge of exploding from the painting's two-dimensional surface.

The scene is an unusually powerful rendition of a standard Chinese subject: a scholar journeying to seek the company of kindred spirits in their mountain retreat. Here, a lone figure on a donkey crosses a bridge at the base of a waterfall. He is followed at a distance by a servant who travels on foot, carrying his master's lute.

Tiny human forms are overwhelmed by the majestic and portentous quality of nature-perhaps the true subject of this painting.

Published References
  • , no. 39 Lexington, Massachusetts, 2018. p. 118.
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. pp. 312-315.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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