Bodhidharma c. 1620s
unkokutoeki
minneapolisinstituteofart
hanging-scroll
amateur sketch
light pencil work
shading to add clarity
incomplete sketchy
japan
personal sketchbook
hanging-scroll
ink drawing experimentation
sketchbook drawing
watercolour illustration
sketchbook art
fantasy sketch
Unkoku Tōeki's "Bodhidharma" is a hanging scroll painting created around the 1620s. The minimalist composition depicts the founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma, in a simple, almost austere style, typical of the artist's work. The scroll showcases the use of light ink washes to capture the figure's form, with a focus on the robe's drapery. This detail and subtle brushwork are characteristic of Tōeki's unique approach to Japanese ink painting.
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At the center of this triptych of hanging scrolls is a portrait of Bodhidharma, known as Daruma in Japan, the Indian patriarch of Zen Buddhism credited with transmitting Zen from India to China in ancient times. At right and left are images of China—dramatic mountainscapes with Buddhist temples and gnarled old pine trees perched on the peaks, along with motifs representing all four seasons. The bold contour lines, solid shape of the mountains, and shallow representation of space are characteristic of Unkoku Tōeki, whose style was informed by the paintings of the revered medieval painter Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1520).
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