Fan 

This landscape painting on a fan was created in the 16th century by Kanō Motonobu, a prominent figure in the Kanō school of Japanese painting. Motonobu, who lived during a period of significant social and cultural transformation in Japan, blended Chinese landscape traditions with native Japanese styles, thus establishing a new visual vocabulary in Japanese art. The painting depicts a serene landscape with a building nestled among trees, figures on a rocky outcrop, and a boat on the water, all rendered in ink. Elements of social class and identity subtly emerge through the representation of the figures within the landscape, suggesting human interaction with the natural world. The fan itself would have been a personal object, reflecting the owner’s taste and status within the rigid hierarchy of feudal Japan. Motonobu’s art invites us to consider the relationship between nature and culture, the emotional connection to place, and the ways in which identity is shaped by our surroundings.