Snow Landscape
By Seikoku Toichi(1777-1853)
Edo Period (dated 1851)
Ink and soft color on silk
41 x 123 cm
Cat.266079
© The Field Museum
Mountains, trees, bridge, straw-roof hut -- this painting bears all the conventional elements of Chinese landscape painting that Japanese landscape painters commonly borrowed. White dots on the mountains and trees, along with the bareness of the tree branches, suggest winter scenery. The artist finely washed out the background with ink and deliberately left some blankness, using it to represent the zigzagging stream, the rocks, and the clouds. Repetitive long lines on the stones have a strong visual effect. They help to define the texture and the multiple layers of the stones.
Although indebted to Chinese landscape painting in terms of technique and subject, the Japanese artist handled the spatial relationship of the rocks in a different way. While Chinese artists often have a high, overwhelming "main peak" in the background against which all the other rocks are piled up to create a tendency of upward, Sekkoku Toichi made the main peak only vaguely seen in the mist and wrote a poem on it in a very delicate style of calligraphy. By dissolving the main peak, the artist successfully replaced the thrust force usually seen in Chinese mountains with a more relaxing, gentle tone.
The poem was written by the artist's friend specifically for the painting, describing their visit to the mountain. Interestingly, the poem was written in the sixth month although it describes a winter scene. The seal below the painter's signature reads "painted for fun in a gathering".
Sekkoku Toichi, a self-taught painter during late Edo period, signed this painting.
(Commentary by Juan Peng)