Waves and Plovers

ca.1910

Japanese, 1870 - 1931

Japanese artists were exposed to art and artists of the West after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. These introductions posed a challenge that eventually resulted in the distinctive features of Japanese modern painting, known as nihonga. While exploring new artistic directions, nihonga painters still sought to keep with Japanese tradition. This straddling of worlds is exemplified in Tsuji Kako’s pictorial experiments on the theme of ocean waves, a subject he explored for about a decade after 1900. This work is in the traditional format of folding screens and uses thickening and thinning lines in the ink-brushwork tradition of literati painters. However, the resulting patterns offer a rhythmic sensation of waves and an immersive sense of the ocean’s vastness. Low-flying plovers accentuate the skyline’s spatial expanse.

Pair of six-panel screens; ink and light color on paper

48 1/4 x 103 in. (122.6 x 261.6 cm)

Gift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum

2010.41.33.1

Photo: Susan A. Cole

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryTokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012.

Published ReferencesMichiyo, Morioka; Berry, Paul. "Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, p. 154-155, illus. 34.

Shirahara, Yukiko. "Tsuji Kako and the Modern Spirit," A Community of Collectors, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 2008, p. 176, illus. 150.

Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 55

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