Birds in Landscape [right of a pair] by Kano Naonobu

Birds in Landscape [right of a pair] c. 17th century

ink, color-on-paper

toned paper

water colours

japan

possibly oil pastel

ink

color-on-paper

stoneware

coffee painting

underpainting

painting painterly

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

watercolor

"Birds in Landscape [right of a pair]" is a six-panel screen painted by Kano Naonobu, a prominent artist of the Kano school, in the 17th century. The screen features a graceful willow tree with cascading branches, rendered in delicate brushstrokes against a soft, golden background. The minimal details and elegant composition, characteristic of the Kano school's style, evoke a sense of tranquility and harmony with nature. The piece is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, showcasing the captivating beauty of Japanese art. The screen is an excellent example of *suiseki*, a genre of Japanese art that emphasizes the natural beauty of rocks and landscapes.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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Although these paintings now exist as a pair of folding screens, this is not how Kano Naonobu designed them. He originally designed them as sliding wall panels. One of the ways you can tell is by looking closely at the far left panel of the right screen, where at the left edge you can see a telltale round repair in the paper surface. This was where one of the door pulls originally was. In that original format—essentially movable, floor-to-ceiling murals—they would have surrounded the room’s occupants, giving them the sense of being immersed in nature.