1992.281 River Landscape

This screen, originally a set of sliding panels (fusuma), features a dramatic landscape executed with brushstrokes that show a dependence upon Japanese literati painting from the mid to late Edo period (1600-1868). The two seals on the screen suggest a relationship to the eccentric artist Soga Shohaku (1730-81). The top round seal reads "Soga Shohaku," and the square seal resembles a Shohaku seal. Although not Shohaku, the painter was familiar with his style. Typical Shohaku characteristics in this work are the passages of intense black ink punctuated by crisply delineated cliffs and boulders in an imaginary setting suggestive of Chinese themes transmitted by 15th century Zen ink painters of Kyoto.