The Chinese Taoist Immortals, Han-shan and Shih-te (Kanzan and Jittoku)

Object Details

• Artist

  Hashimoto Gaho 橋本雅邦 (1835-1908)

• Label

  The Chinese hermits known in Japanese as Kanzan (Hanshan in Chinese) and Jittoku (Shide in Chinese), lived near the sacred mountain Tiantaishan during the Tang dynasty (618-907). They appear frequently in Zen Buddhist paintings, in which they represent rejection of the secular world. Here Kanzan opens a scroll of his poetry, while Jittoku, a servant at a monastery, looks on.

  Gaho's composition exploits contrasts of dark and light tones and sets the figures in a conventional but highly simplified landscape. The painting was shown in an exhibition organized by the Kangakai (Society for the Appreciation of Paintings), which had been organized by the American Ernest F. Fenellosa (1853-1908) to promote the creation of new Japanese-style paintings. Fenellosa wrote to Charles Lang Freer in 1902 that the painting had created such excitement that "the Emperor asked to borrow it and kept it several months." Fenellosa's influence in persuading collectors abroad to acquire paintings by living Japanese artists whose work he admired may account for the fact that few of the paintings shown in the Kangakai meetings or exhibitions have remained in Japan.

• Provenance

  To 1902

  Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908), New York, NY, and Spring Hill, AL, to 1902 [1]

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ernest Francisco Fenollosa in 1902 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 284, pg. 66, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Sotatsu: Making Waves (Saturday, October 24, 2015 to Sunday, January 31, 2016)

  Tales and Legends in Japanese Art (June 21, 2003 to January 4, 2004)

  Religious Art of Japan (December 18, 2002 to January 4, 2015)

  Japanese Art of the Meiji Era (September 20, 1997 to April 26, 1998)

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to August 1, 1994)

  Japanese Art (July 1, 1974 to April 10, 1978)

  Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Paintings (October 25, 1955 to November 23, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1951 (January 23, 1951 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Hanging Scrolls, Ceramics, and Sculpture (October 2, 1947 to January 23, 1951)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Ceramics and Painting (May 2, 1946 to October 2, 1947)

  Japanese Paintings Buddhist Etc. (January 5, 1928 to December 8, 1941)

  Japanese Paintings and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to December 8, 1941)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Fenollosa, Ernest Francisco, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Daoist Immortals, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Daoism, Japanese Art, Kanzan, Jittoku, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Kakemono

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings