Spring landscape

Literati paintings often seek to capture the experience of an educated gentleman who savors the pleasures of nature. Here, pavilions on a steadily rising hillside offer views of distant peaks across a river. Nestled at the base of the hill are two rustic shelters where the inhabitants enjoy a view of the water while listening to the sound of a nearby cascade. The artist used long and fibrous strokes of ink to build up the forms of the hillside, adding dry and scratchy strokes for the still-bare trees, smooth curves for the rushing water, and pale washes of ink for distant mist. The result is a rich, textural surface, damp and atmospheric, that evokes an early spring day.

Hyakusen is regarded as one of Japan’s pioneering literati artists. Like his contemporaries, he avidly studied Chinese woodblock-printed painting manuals. His family business importing medicines from China gave Hyakusen access to original Chinese paintings, leading him to experiment with new compositions, brushwork styles, and methods of applying ink wash.