1970.28 Kanzan

The pair of hanging scrolls representing Kanzan [1970.28] and Jittoku [1970.29] are examples of the condensed style found in black and white ink painting. The two men were a pair of mad monks who spoke a private language to each other while ignoring the everyday world. The Zen rejection of logic and tradition is symbolized by Jittoku's broom, which sweeps away reasoning, and Kanzan's blank scroll, which is empty of scriptures. In a few bold sweeps of the brush, the pair of cosmic clowns, grotesque and yet inspired, are delineated as sacred figures. They are complements of each other, like the two halves of a sphere. The artist, Soga Shohaku, was himself a member of a Zen family, whose traditions he has here distilled.

Soga Shōhaku: ULAN: 500121324

Japan (nation): TGN: 1000120

paper (fiber product): AAT: 300014109

ink: AAT: 300015012

painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618

Edo (Japanese period): AAT: 300106643

Zen (Japanese Buddhism): AAT: 300022006

reason (social science concepts): AAT: 300055194

brooms (maintenance tools): AAT: 300024758

scrolls (information artifacts): AAT: 300028629

Before 1971: Harry C. Nail, Jr., Palo Alto, California. [1]

1971: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence S. Pollock, purchase from above. [2]

The main source for this provenance is the Dallas Art Association Acquisition Record, dated January 22,1971, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File. Exceptions and supporting documents are noted.  

[1] See invoice from Harry C. Nail to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, dated January 2, 1971.   

[2] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

apply to objects where number equals 1970.28