Secluded Hermitage

In this elongated vertical ink landscape, two small thatched-roof buildings, rendered in reserve and in shades of light gray, stand out amid the dark, foreboding mountains. The trees right behind the buildings are paler in tone, as if to suggest the sun is still hitting just that area. In the foreground, the towering trunks of monumental pine trees twist upwards, their foliage suggested by areas of dark wash rather than individual brushstrokes. The roof of another structure can be made out in the left center of the scene. The artist, Hirai Baisen, has created a moody, expressionist experiment in ink tones.

Born in Kyoto, from an early age Hirai Baisen was interested in a career in art, but did not apprentice himself to any of the master painters working in the city. An important turning point in his self-education as an artist was a visit to China in 1913. After that, he often created scenery he had experienced there, or works evocative of the continent. His painting style is usually associated with that of Maeda Seison (1885–1977) in its use of interesting perspectival views and very wet brushwork. By the mid-1920s, works by Baisen and Seison were considered representative of the new trends in Nihonga. From 1907 to 1931 his works were regularly selected for the government sponsored Bunten exhibitions. Yet, despite this promising start, his work fell out of favor and was neglected. He seems to have been a victim, like so many others, of the conservative tendencies of the later Bunten exhibitions of Nihonga. Only in recent years, as museums in Japan and the West start to reconsider art of the Taisho and early Shōwa period, is he getting renewed attention.