Landscape

Ogata Korin

beginning of 18th century

Two-panel screen; ink on gilded paper

Seattle Art Museum

A two-panel screen depicts a mountainous landscape with ink wash painting on gilded paper. A winding path leads up a steep hill towards a cluster of buildings. A two-panel screen depicts a mountainous landscape with ink wash painting on gilded paper. A winding path leads up a steep hill towards a cluster of buildings. This monochrome ink landscape, painted directly onto the gold-backed screen, is singular among Ogata Korin’s completed works. It is painted in the spontaneous, abbreviated brush style of Japanese monk-painter Sesshu (1420–1506). The “ink puddling” technique of tarashikomi, passed down from fellow Rinpa-style painter Tawaraya Sotatsu, is visible in Korin’s rock formations. Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection Object number 51.129