Mountain landscapes

Object Details

• Artist

  Nakabayashi Chikuto 中林竹洞 (1776-1853)

• Label

  The artist Chikuto was a native of Nagoya. In his youth he studied Chinese paintings in a local private collection. His interest in literature and painting took him to Kyoto, to which he moved in 1803. There he worked in association with the eminent scholars, calligraphers, and painters of the Nanga school, who drew their inspiration from the lives and work of the literary men of China. Chikuto's interest in Chinese painting extended to theory as well as to practice, and he published treatises on painting as well as illustrated books.

  This pair of landscape screens, painted in 1843, when the artist was in his late sixties, reveals Chikuto's mastery of the techniques derived from Chinese painting. The forms of mountains, trees, open water, and waterfalls are created by repeated patterns of brush strokes. Dense configurations of lofty mountains open to spacious views across mountains allude to the ideal of an independent life devoted to individual literary and artistic pursuits that was held by both Japanese and Chinese scholar-painters. Chikuto's inscription reveals that he is painting his conception of the work of Yuan dynasty Chinese painter Li Kan (1245-1320), who is principally known for his paintings of bamboo.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Screens (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)

  Japanese Screens (August 13, 1997 to May 4, 1998)

  Japanese Screens (February 11, 1983 to July 19, 1988)

  Japanese Art (September 20, 1982 to April 15, 1983)

  Japanese Screens (May 22, 1980 to October 8, 1980)

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

  Japanese Art—Painted Screens (August 18, 1967 to May 2, 1973)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1840s, 1690s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Nakabayashi, Chikuto

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Mountains, Landscapes, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings