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Photo: Eduardo Calderon
A Mountain Spring is a Good Friend
Photo: Eduardo Calderon

A Mountain Spring is a Good Friend

Date1918
Label TextAs an amateur painter, Kodôjin felt free to construct inventive compositions for the literati theme of idyllic life in nature. Here he placed his scholar in a tiny hut surrounded by foliage almost at the top of the painting. The barely discernible hermitage overlooks a mountain valley with a rocky stream, which disappears at the bottom of the painting behind a tree with massive, black foliage. The contrast of shimmering satin against heavy applications of rich black ink imparts a note of elegance to this novel painting. A poet of considerable reputation, Kodôjin has divided the painting vertically, giving almost equal attention to his poetic inscription.
Object number2010.41.48
Photo CreditPhoto: Eduardo Calderon
Published ReferencesMorioka, Michiyo; Berry, Paul. "Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, p. 220, illus. 62.
Credit LineGift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
Dimensions87 3/16 x 26 1/4 in. (221.5 x 66.7 cm)
MediumInk on satin
Three Friends by a  Mountain Stream
1902
Object number: 2010.41.17
Landscapes of the Four Seasons
late 1890s
Object number: 2010.41.11
Waterfall Deep in the Mountains
Tsuji Kako
1908-9
Object number: 2010.41.30
Photo: Eduardo Calderon
1927
Object number: 2010.41.49
Drawing Water from a Mountain Stream
ca.1860
Object number: 2010.41.12
Photo: Eduardo Calderon
1918
Object number: 2010.41.50
Su's Embankment on a Spring Morning
1867
Object number: 2010.41.18
Landscape with Two Travelers
1912
Object number: 2010.41.14
Photo: Eduardo Calderon
ca.1917
Object number: 2010.41.40