On the right panel of this screen an elderly man sits in the shade of a grove of trees, a walking stick in one hand. His bald head, scrawny limbs, and bare feet are delineated with smooth brush lines in light ink, while dark spots mark his eyes and the corners of his downturned mouth. The painting was cut down from a larger work, which may have held clues to the identity of the seated figure. The companion piece, on the left panel, depicts a hawk perched on the branch of an oak tree. Soga Nichokuan, well known as a painter of hawks, most likely worked in the vicinity of the port city of Sakai, south of Osaka.
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曽我二直庵筆 高士・柏鷹図
Title:Daoist Sage and Hawk
Artist:Soga Nichokuan (Japanese, active mid-17th century)
Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
Date:mid-17th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Pair of fan-shaped paintings mounted on two-panel folding screen; ink on paper
Dimensions:73 1/2 x 67 3/4 in. (186.7 x 172.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.222
On the right panel of this two-fold screen an elderly, emaciated man is shown seated in the shade of two trees, a walking stick in one hand. His bald head, scrawny limbs, and bare feet are delineated with smooth brushlines in light ink; dark spots mark his eyes and the corners of his downturned mouth.
No particular physical characteristics or attributes identify this stubborn-looking old gentleman, and as he lacks any of the bizarre features that frequently characterize Daoist immortals, he perhaps represents a scholarly recluse. The painting was cut down to its present irregular shape from a larger, rectangular work, which may have held clues to the identity of the seated figure.
The companion piece, on the left panel, depicts a hawk perched on the branch of an oak tree whose leaves turn and twist as if expressing the fierce tension of the bird of prey. This painting is signed "Soga Chokuan Ni" (Soga Nichokuan) and bears a seal reading "Hōin." The seal also appears on the painting of the old man, where another seal, "Nichokuan," can be seen above it.
Soga Nichokuan (fl. mid-17th century), well known as a painter of hawks, is generally regarded as the successor to, and perhaps the son of, Soga Chokuan (fl. 1596–1610), who was similarly known for his hawk paintings. They may also have been connected to a number of Muromachi ink painters who used the name "Soga," as well as to one of the great eccentric masters of the Edo period, Soga Shōhaku (cat. no. 121). The biographies of both Chokuan and Nichokuan present a tantalizing, if frustrating, picture of artists who worked outside the mainstream Kano school. Some of the confusing and plainly fabricated claims they made about their lineage reflect opportunistic attempts to succeed in a fiercely competitive art market. Nichokuan sometimes signed his name "the Sixth Generation from Shūbun" (see cat. no. 61). What is certain, however, is that Nichokuan succeeded Chokuan as the leader of the Soga school and that he most likely worked in the vicinity of the port city of Sakai, south of Osaka. Several screen paintings by Nichokuan found at temples on Mount Koya and at Taimadera, Nara, testify to his activity in the Osaka-Nara region. Colophons inscribed on his paintings by two monks who are known to have died in 1643 and 1649, respectively, suggest that he was active in the middle of the seventeenth century.
Nichokuan's mature works are distinguished by an eccentric, almost surreal treatment, with serrated rocks, agitated water patterns, and contorted, knobby trees silhouetted against dark ink backgrounds that stand in harsh contrast against highlighted areas.[1] These features are generally regarded as characteristics of his later career. The dark shadow and eyelike knot on the tree in the painting at the right offer only a hint of this later boldness and eccentricity. It may thus be dated to the earlier part of Nichokuan's career. The signature is written in a calm, controlled script. In later years, the artist's hand was looser and more elongated; an example appears on a triptych of White-Robed Kannon and two birds at Chōenji (Aichi Prefecture), which is dated to about 1649.[2]
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] See, for example, the six-fold screens Flowers and Birds, in Nara Prefectural Museum of Art 1989, no. 22; and Egrets and Hawks, in Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music 1977, no. 10. Both these screens are considered to be by Nichokuan, though each bears a signature reading "Soga Chokuan."
[2] Nara Prefectural Museum of Art 1989, no. 32.
Signature: Soga Chokuan Ni
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. Asia Society. "Art of Japan: Selections from the Burke Collection, pts. I and II," October 2, 1986–February 22, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Courtly Romance in Japanese Art," May 12–July 12, 1989.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Die Kunst des Alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," September 16, 1990–November 18, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japan: A History of Style," March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 362, cat. no. 445.
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