An elderly man with a servant carrying a zither (Chinese: qin; Japanese: koto) on his back traverses a bridge toward an awaiting acquaintance. Characteristic of Uragami Gyokudō’s later works, from his sixties and early seventies, the painting at first glance seems uncontrolled; short twigs explode from trees like firecrackers and dry willow leaves burst forth in scratchy lines. On closer inspection, however, this work reveals a careful structure: the mountains, hills, and rocks roughly laid out in light washes of ink, which are animated by darker strokes applied in clear, rhythmic movements that impart life and vitality to the forms.
Gyokudō was a retainer for the Ikeda daimyo clan in Okayama in his early career. At age forty-nine he retired to pursue the life of a literatus, focusing on performing and composing for the seven-stringed zither (shichigenkin) as well as painting expressive ink landscapes.
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Dimensions:Image: 50 1/4 × 21 5/16 in. (127.7 × 54.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 73 1/4 × 27 7/16 in. (186 × 69.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 73 1/4 × 32 5/16 in. (186 × 82 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.177
Uragami Gyokudō (1745–1820) is one of the most compelling of the nanga artists, both for the unusual emotional quality of his art and for his independence.[1] Gyokudō was born to a family of high-ranking warrior-retainers in the service of their relative the daimyo Ikeda in Okayama. When his father died, in 1751, the six-year-old Gyokudō inherited the post in the Ikeda administration traditionally held by the Uragami family. He was educated in Chinese literature, painting, and possibly in Western studies, which were then in vogue. He also learned to play the qin (a Chinese zither). He gave instructions in the qin when he was in his early twenties, and also composed music for it. He took his artistic name after he acquired a qin called Gyokudō Sei'in (Pure Tone of the Jade Hall) in 1779.
The death in 1768 of his master, Ikeda Masaka, with whom Gyokudō had been associated since childhood, seems to have marked a turning point in his life. The Ikeda family records mention, in slightly scornful tones, that Gyokudō, who had been a diligent and loyal retainer until Masaka's death, began to neglect his duties and to spend time with his gentlemen friends, playing the qin and painting. Nevertheless, Gyokudō remained in service for another twenty-five years. On a trip in 1794 with his two sons, Shunkin and Shūkin (Spring Zither and Autumn Zither), Gyokudō sent a letter of resignation to Okayama. He was then forty-nine. Resignation was considered a serious act of disloyalty, a moral lapse regarded almost as a crime. Nevertheless, Gyokudō was permitted to travel, which indicates that his actions were viewed with a certain degree of tolerance.
Following his resignation Gyokudō traveled extensively, earning his livelihood primarily as an instructor of the qin. He later settled in Kyoto with his son Shunkin. Most of Gyokudō's paintings with dated inscriptions were made in the last decade of his life.
Gyokudō was already acquainted with a number of nanga painters by the time he was in his thirties. His work is included, together with paintings by the leading nanga artists of the late eighteenth century, in an album now in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, which was executed in 1792–93 for the art dealer Nyoi Dōjin of Ise.[1]
Gyokudō painted landscapes exclusively. His early work is hesitant and uncertain, depending chiefly on the use of the short, horizontal strokes known as Mi dots, after the brush technique favored by the Northern Song Chinese painter Mi Fu (1052–1108). Most of his works dating from the time of his resignation share distinctive traits: spiky, needlelike twigs on old trees, large areas of unpainted white, and the figure of a stooped old man—perhaps Gyokudō himself—crossing a bridge in the depths of a forest.
Gyokudō's decision to live as a wandering rōnin (retainer without master) conforms to the idealized life of the Chinese literatus. His personality, however, did not correspond to the ideal of calm detachment. Gyokudō's landscapes are emotionally charged, and the ever-present figure of the old man is expressive of the artist's deep loneliness. Perhaps to reach a better understanding of Gyokudō it is necessary also to study his music.[3]
Gyokudō painted the scene depicted on this hanging scroll many times. An old man, accompanied by a servant carrying a qin on his back, is seen crossing a bridge on his way to a gentleman who waits on the other side to greet him. A fourth figure is seated inside a steep-roofed pavilion. The presence of additional figures mitigates somewhat the forlorn solitude characteristic of most of Gyokudō's work.
At first glance, the painting seems uncontrolled; short twigs explode from trees like firecrackers, and dry willow leaves burst forth in scratchy lines. Gaping areas of unpainted white appear on the ground and mountains. On closer inspection, however, the painting reveals a careful structure, the mountains, hills, and rocks roughly laid out in light washes of ink and then further defined by darker strokes applied in clear, rhythmic movements that impart life and vitality to the forms.
The colophon, inscribed by Gyokudō himself, is written in a deliberate, antiquated style. It includes the date of the painting (a spring day, the Year of the Dog, Bunka era [1814]); the artist's age as sixty-nine; and the title of the painting. The seal reads "a grandson of Minister Takeuchi." Takeuchi no Sukune was a semi-legendary warrior-statesman of ancient Japan, from whom the Uragami family claimed its descent.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] On the life of Gyokudō, see Addiss 1987. [2] Yoshizawa Chū 1974, pp. 9–12. [3] Attempts were made along this line in Addiss 1987; and Fukushima Prefectural Museum 1994.
Signature: Gyokudo Kinshi toshi shichiju nari
Inscription: Bunka kojutsu no shunjitsu; Shatoku Yakyo hokin zu
Marking: Seal: Takeuchi Kaijin no mago
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings of the Nanga School," January 27–May 13, 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. "The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Paintings from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection," October 1, 2002–March 2, 2003.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Post-renovation opening exhibition: Japanese galleries," April 11, 2006–January 17, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.
Addiss, Stephen. Tall Mountains and Flowing Waters: The Arts of Uragami Gyokudō. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987, p. 124, fig. 5.22.
Guth, Christine. Art of Edo Japan: The Artist and the City 1615-1868. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1996, fig. 45.
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. 276, cat. no. 349.
Carpenter, John T. The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018, p. 94, fig. 29.
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