Butterflies

1843

Kano School

Japanese, 16th-19th centuries

Kinoshita Itsuun

Japanese, 1799 - 1866

Ichikawa Beian

Japanese, 1779 - 1858

In the early 19th century, a popular artistic genre among literati circles was the group painting, in which several painters and poets collaborated on a single work. Usually such works were limited to ten participants, but in the case of this elegant pair of hanging scrolls, over seventy different distinguished hands added a Chinese verse or a minutely detailed painting. The majority of contributors were members of the orthodox Kano school, a hereditary school of professional artists that dominated artistic practice in the late Edo period. Other contributors included natural historian and painter Baba Taisuke, reminiscent of a Japanese James Audubon. Baba, a high-ranking samurai, was most certainly painting from life, and not from imported copy books.

Hanging scroll; Ink and color on silk

75 x 18 1/8 in. (190.5 x 46cm)

Gift of Frank D. Stout

92.47.324.2

Photo: Susan A. Cole

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Sack Full of Tigers: Diffusion and Diversity in Japanese Painting of the 19th Century Diffusion and Diversity in Japanese Painting, Dec. 6, 1997 - Nov. 15, 1998.

Tokyo, 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.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Tabaimo: Utsutsushi Utsushi, Nov. 11, 2016 - Feb. 26, 2017.

Published ReferencesKawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 52

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Butterflies

Butterflies

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