painting, ink
landscape illustration sketch
painting
asian-art
landscape
ukiyo-e
japan
ink
orientalism
japanese
Dimensions 12 1/8 × 172 3/4 in. (30.8 × 438.79 cm) (image)12 3/4 × 224 5/8 in. (32.39 × 570.55 cm) (mount)
Maruyama Ōkyo made this ink and color painting on silk in the 18th century. The silk support allows the ink and pigments to blend softly, creating a misty, atmospheric effect. Notice the subtle gradations of tone, achieved through masterful brushwork and control of the ink's density. Ōkyo's technique is rooted in traditional East Asian painting practices, where the quality of the materials and the artist's skill in manipulating them are highly valued. In the creation of such a painting, an artist will use various brushes, inks, and pigments with differing properties, each requiring distinct handling, and a deep knowledge of their behavior on the silk. The act of painting becomes a performance, with the artist's breath, posture, and intention all influencing the final result. In Ōkyo's work, we see a deep understanding of the intimate relationship between materials, process, and artistic expression.
Comments
This handscroll by the naturalist painter Maruyama Ōkyo depicts figures on horseback along the banks of storied West Lake, near the Chinese city of Hangzhou. At the very end of the scroll, Ōkyo dates his painting to the spring of 1793 and notes that it is modeled after the work of the sixteenth-century Chinese painter Qiu Ying (1494–1552). Although horseback riding at West Lake is not a subject Qiu Ying is known to have painted, the distinct depiction of willow trees here is consistent with works associated with the painter in Japan.
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