Autumn Light

ca. 1925

Japanese, 1889 - 1979

Rich colors of fall leaves and deep green pine trees glow in the mild autumn light, as birds fly high above in the sky. A distant view of mountains suggests a majestic landscape extending beyond the frame. The composition, featuring an overhanging cliff at one side that creates a sense of space by connecting the foreground and a distant view, is one that is typical of Japanese paintings since the fifteenth century. Ono Chikkyo, a renowned Nihonga artist of the twentieth century, displays his own style in this work by combining the bright color tones adapted from modern western art with the familiar composition and delicate touch of Japanese paintings.

Chikkyô has incorporated unconventional colors into a traditional landscape painting. The asymmetrical composition--which contrasts a soaring cliff capped with trees with an expanse of water and low distant hills--recalls Japanese literati painting. Unnatural colors enhance a dreamlike atmosphere in this utopian scene.

Ink and colors on silk.

72 3/8 x 15 5/8 in. (183.8 x 39.7cm)

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

2010.41.68

Photo: Eduardo Calderon

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Fall and Winter in Japan", October 22, 2002 - February 23, 2003

Published ReferencesMorioka, Michiyo; Berry, Paul. "Modern Masters of Kyoto: The Transformation of Japanese Painting Traditions," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1999, p. 290, illus. 82.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM