Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers

Object Details

• Artist

  Soga Shohaku (1730-1781)

• Label

  These landscapes, painted in a wide variety of ink tones and brush techniques, are embellished with clouds formed of gold particles. In the subdued light of a traditional Japanese room, such clouds gently illuminated the landscapes. The artist Soga Shohaku was an outstanding individualist painter who avoided the art establishment of his birthplace, Kyoto, and pursued an independent life outside the imperial capital. This pair of screens represents the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, in a series of evocative images on a subject that was established in Chinese poetry and painting and assimilated into Japanese art during the Muromachi period (1392-1573). The expansive composition displays Shohaku's technical mastery of brushwork and ink, which ranges from deep dark accents to ethereal ink washes.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Art from the Collection (October 26, 2024 - ongoing)

  Japanese Screens (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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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, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Soga, Shohaku

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings