Winter [center right from the set Rice Farming in the Four Seasons] by Kano Sanraku

Winter [center right from the set Rice Farming in the Four Seasons] c. 1620s

toned paper

ink drawing

ink painting

pen sketch

japan

fluid art

ink drawing experimentation

pen-ink sketch

pen work

sketchbook art

watercolor

"Winter" (c. 1620s), part of the *Rice Farming in the Four Seasons* set by Kano Sanraku, depicts a serene winter scene with a prominent pine tree, a central feature of Japanese landscape painting. Sanraku was a prominent painter in the Kano school, known for their refined and decorative style. This artwork, on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, highlights the influence of Chinese painting traditions, particularly the emphasis on natural landscapes and atmospheric details. The scene conveys the stillness and tranquility of the season through the use of muted colors and meticulous brushwork.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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These sliding door panels originally formed the four walls of a small reception chamber at Daikakuji, a Buddhist temple in northwest Kyoto that also served as the palace for Japan’s emperor. The panels form a continuous panorama from wall to wall and present various activities associated with rice cultivation: plowing, transplanting the rice, irrigating, threshing, and grinding. The didactic theme is derived from Chinese painting; agriculture, according to Confucian teachings, is the basis of a well-ordered society. Accordingly, when Japanese rulers adopted Confucianism as their ruling ideology, they also commissioned paintings that reflected social stability, morality, and government values. Although unsigned, these paintings were likely produced by Kano Sanraku. As head of the Kyoto branch of the influential Kano school, Sanraku counted several prominent aristocratic families and Buddhist monasteries, including Daikakuji, as key patrons.