painting, ink
painting
asian-art
landscape
bird
ukiyo-e
figuration
ink
line
watercolour illustration
mixed medium
mixed media
realism
Dimensions: height 171.5 cm, width 372.4 cm, width 63.4 cm, thickness 10.8 cm, thickness 1.9 cm
Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain
This is a six-panel screen showing a sea eagle along the coast, made with ink and color on paper by Ganryo. Painted screens like this one served a vital function in the social life of early modern Japan. Screens demarcated space and provided privacy within the residence of a powerful family. This one presents a stark image of a wild bird in a snowy landscape. What might this image have meant to the screen’s original owner and viewers? In Japan, the eagle symbolizes power, courage, and good fortune. Its association with the warrior class made it a popular motif in the art of the Edo period. The screen may have been commissioned by a member of the samurai class, as an assertion of his own power. However, the meaning of an artwork is never fixed or stable. To interpret this screen more fully, we might research the symbolism of birds in Japanese art and poetry.
Comments
A mighty sea eagle dominates the right section, contrasting with the left screen where a series of waves vanish into the distance. Ganryo was a painter of the Kishi School, whose adherents sought to create a vibrant form of naturalism that communicated the essence of their subjects. His work is characterised by an almost agitated style of brushwork, as in the waves which rise from the surface of the sea like dragon’s claws.
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