Untitled (figures playing instruments in a garden) 

Ike no Taiga created this ink drawing of figures playing instruments, sometime during his lifetime in 18th-century Japan. The painting evokes the leisurely pursuits of the literati: those elite scholars and artists who prized personal expression above all else. The image of figures playing instruments suggests an atmosphere of cultivated leisure, aligning with the values of the literati movement. In Japan, the influence of Chinese aesthetics and philosophy was strong, particularly among the educated elite. This work evokes the lifestyle of the Chinese scholar-artist. The literati, often detached from formal courtly power, valued individual expression, poetry, calligraphy, and painting as means of self-cultivation. They often critiqued the existing social and artistic norms of their time. To understand this work better, we can look at collections of literati paintings and writings from this time. We may also consider how the institutions of art helped to codify certain forms of cultural expression as superior to others.