Schetsblad met twee kraanvogels en een man met knapzak 1799 - 1857

This is a sketch in ink on paper, by Yamamoto Baiitsu, made some time in the first half of the 19th century. Baiitsu lived during the Edo period in Japan, a time marked by relative peace and flourishing of the arts, but also strict social hierarchies. Here, two cranes tower over a man with a knapsack. Cranes in Japanese art often symbolize longevity and good fortune, but their prominence here could also speak to aspirations beyond earthly concerns. The man, hunched with his pack, exists in stark contrast to the soaring cranes. Baiitsu himself, though born into a merchant family, chose the path of an artist, a profession that sometimes held a precarious position in the social order. We can wonder if this work reflects the artist’s own sense of identity, caught between the material world and the desire for something more transcendent. It reminds us that even seemingly simple sketches can be deeply intertwined with personal experience and cultural values.