Sansui Ga Paintings

Sansui-ga is a form of Japanese monochrome landscape paintings, the preferred genre among Zen painters in the 14th-16th century. Sansui-ga painting is done in Chinese-inspired sumi-e or suiboku-ga, an ink wash painting style, which uses black ink in various concentrations. Gradations of ink are used to create a sense of light and shade, as well as modulated brushstrokes and lines to create a sense of volume and rhythm. (Parent) Vast landscapes on screens and sliding doors set a serene and contemplative mood in Muromachi-period mansions and temples. (“Muromachi period”)
The above the images are the work of Japanese artist Kangaku Shinso Soami who was born in 1472 and died on Nov. 12, 1525. (“Soami”) The work is called Landscape of the Four Seasons,
it is a pair of six-fold screens, ink on paper, each screen is 68 1/4 x 146 in. (173.4 x 370.4 cm). Soami was a respected art critic and was responsible for the art collection of the Ashikaga shoguns, the military dictators of the Ashikaga clan that ruled Japan from 1338 to 1573. (“Soami”) These paintings represent the passing of the seasons from spring to winter. This work refers to the landscape of southern China, known to the artist through a handscroll prized by the Ashikaga shoguns: the Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang, painted by Muqi, a Chinese monk painter of the thirteenth century. (“Soami”) At the far right, a traveler crosses a bridge to a village seen under a spring mist. In the center, waterfalls cascade into an open river, where the group fishermen implies summer sports. In the left screen, boats moored at a distant shore and a line of migrating geese imply fall. Snow-covered rooftops at the base of the snowcapped mountains bring the sense of winter.
The above images are the work of Kano Motonobu who was born on Aug.
28, 1476 and died Nov. 5, 1559 in Kyōto, Japan. The work is called The Four Accomplishments, it is a pair of six-fold screens, ink on paper, each screen is 68 1/4 x 146 in. (173.4 x 370.4 cm). Motonobu was the first of the Kanō painters. He also served the Ashikaga shoguns. (“Kano Motonobu”) These paintings allude to the gentlemanly pursuits of music, games of strategy, calligraphy, and painting, which were popular subjects for abbots' quarters and audience rooms of the ruling classes from the Muromachi period. (“Muromachi period”) At far right, a scholar is accompanied by a servant carrying his stringed instrument. They move toward a riverbank upon which three gentlemen are absorbed in a game of Go. In the left screen, two boys are carrying bundles of books and scrolls follow a hatted man headed toward a thatched pavilion. Inside, three servants have unrolled a painted hanging scroll for their master, who stands at the parapet gazing at a waterfall. Moving right to left through the screens, we find that we have also traveled temporally, from the barren plum branches of early spring, through a hazy summer, geese landing on a sandbank in autumn, and finally to the snow-covered rocks of
winter.
The Landscape of the Four Seasons work is done from a faraway perspective where you cannot see the detail of the people depicted within the work making it a more contemplative piece allowing the viewer to reflect on man’s relationship to the world.
The Four Achievements work in contrast centers on depicting the seasons of a man’s life and how he learns the acknowledged gentlemanly pursuits of the period. It is only when one examines the details that you can see how very different the subject matter of the works really are. Soami’s work gives the viewer a sense of how small we really are in the world, by the contrast in size of the people depicted and the massive scale of the mountains. Motonobu’s work would have been more of a secular piece for the time period. The Japanese culture is very male and honor centric so The Four Achievements could have been an instructional piece for young
men.
Soami and Motonobu were masters of sansui-ga. Both were strongly influenced by the philosophy of Zen, the meditative sect of Buddhism that taught that secular art forms can serve as a means of attaining spiritual enlightenment. (Parent) Both the Landscape of the Four Seasons and The Four Accomplishments are national treasures to the Japanese people and are great examples of Zen influence on art. My interest in this art form has always been the awe inspiring representations of the power of nature and its simplicity. Both of these landscapes are beautiful examples of sansui-ga and both are inspired displays of nature.