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Waves and Plovers
Waves and Plovers

Waves and Plovers

Dateca.1910
Maker Tsuji Kako Japanese, 1870 - 1931
Label TextJapanese 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.
Object number2010.41.33.2
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. 177, 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
Credit LineGift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions53 7/8 x 108 1/2 in. (136.8 x 275.6 cm)
MediumPair of six-panel screens; ink and light color on paper
Photo: Susan A. Cole
Tsuji Kako
ca.1910
Object number: 2010.41.33.1
Photo by: Eduardo Calderón
ca.1905
Object number: 2009.70.6.2
Photo by: Eduardo Calderón
ca.1905
Object number: 2009.70.6.1
Sanjo Bridge and Daigokuden
1896
Object number: 2010.41.8
Sanjo Bridge
1896
Object number: 2010.41.7
Photo: Susan A. Cole
Japanese
early 16th century
Object number: 91.235.1
Photo: Susan A. Cole
Japanese
early 16th century
Object number: 91.235.2
Photo: Seiji Shirono, National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo
Japanese
early 17th century
Object number: 36.21.1
Photo: Seiji Shirono, National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo
Japanese
early 17th century
Object number: 36.21.2