山本梅逸筆　四季山水図|Landscapes of the Four Seasons

Yamamoto Baiitsu

1848 · Set of four hanging scrolls; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

These sensitively rendered ink paintings transcend conventional literati imagery of Chinese‑style seasonal landscapes to create an expression of a more individual, moody statement of the artist in nature. One may read the lone figure in each scroll as a representation of the artist himself presented in the mode of a Chinese sage; the artist did actually play the traverse flute, the instrument of the boatman in the autumn scene. All four of the scrolls in this set are integrated not only by connecting seasonal moods but also by a unifying elevated point of view. Baiitsu is best known for his meticulous and unfailingly elegant polychrome bird-and-flower paintings, perhaps learned while studying as a youth under the Shijō-school painter Chō Gesshō (1770–1832). This set of paintings reveals a relatively unstudied dimension of Baiitsu’s work.

Artist

Yamamoto Baiitsu

Date

1848

Medium

Set of four hanging scrolls; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015