Twelve Poetic Immortals and Their Poems 1850

Reizei Tamechika painted this screen of twelve poetic immortals in Japan during the 19th century. The artist draws on a rich cultural heritage, referencing classical Japanese poetry and bestowing immortality on its practitioners. Each figure sits formally, adorned in the robes of their profession, with lines of calligraphy, a poem, floating above. The artist worked during a period of social and political upheaval, the late Edo and early Meiji periods. During this time of transition, the role of traditional arts, like poetry and painting, was being redefined. Tamechika specialized in reviving older styles of painting, especially yamato-e. By celebrating and reinterpreting earlier cultural forms and styles, artists comment on the values of their own time. Historians rely on multiple sources to interpret artworks, including biographical information about the artist, texts or poems related to the artwork, and research into the culture that produced it. Art's meaning is contingent on its social and institutional context.