Landscape with Waterfall

Born in Edo, the son of a middle-class merchant of tortoiseshell products, Kameda Bōsai (1752–1826) followed the scholarly path of a bunjin. Beginning at about the age of thirteen and for approximately ten years thereafter, he studied under Inoue Kinga (1732–1784), a Confucian scholar, at a private academy in his neighborhood.[1] Kinga's calligraphy and painting would remain an important influence on Bōsai throughout his life.

At the age of twenty-two, in 1774, Bōsai opened his own school of Confucian studies. Takizawa Bakin (1767–1848), one of the most popular novelists of the nineteenth century, was among the students at the academy. Bōsai was forced to close the school in 1797 when a repressive shogunal policy placed restrictions on Confucian teachings.

Bōsai's life as an independent—albeit impoverished—scholar began at this time. He not only wrote commentaries on Confucian texts but published essays on such esoterica as the food production and eating habits of the ancient Chinese. To earn a living, he made calligraphic works and wrote colophons on paintings by such artists as Ike Taiga (cat. nos. 157–159), Sakai Hōitsu (cat. no. 134), and Suzuki Kiitsu (cat. no. 135). Bōsai was invited by Hōitsu to write the preface to the book of woodcut reproductions of paintings by Ogata Kōrin that was published in 1815 to commemorate the centennial of Kōrin's death.[2] The following year he designed a woodblock-printed book of his own landscapes, Kyōchūzan (Mountain in My Heart).[3]

Primarily a scholar and calligrapher, Bōsai is believed to have begun painting only at the age of about fifty. For the most part his paintings are imaginary landscapes, with little variation in the compositional scheme. Bōsai frequently included with his signature the word "suiga," or "suisha," meaning that he painted while in a state of intoxication. The Burke Landscape with Waterfall is a rare exception in Bōsai's oeuvre. Although he signed it "Drunkenly Painted for Pleasure by Old Man Bōsai Kō," the painting is more carefully constructed than many other works thus signed. Extensive use of ink washes and deliberately applied tints of blue and buff colors bring into question his self-proclaimed drunkenness. The painting is a much larger version of two other landscapes, now in the Gitter collection, New Orleans, that are dated by inscription to 1807.[4] Human figures are here eliminated altogether, their presence merely suggested by the solid houses. The foreground is firmly established by trees with thick foliage and by the row of houses nearby. Mottled effects of dark ink applied on the tall, craggy hills are reminiscent of the tarashikomi (poured ink) technique, a hallmark of the Rinpa style and perhaps indicative of Bōsai's association with Hōitsu and Kiitsu.

Bōsai's signature is written in an expressive yet controlled running script. The two seals in the upper left corner translate as "Record of Chōkō" and "Masterless Man from the Eastern Sea," which are believed to have been used from 1817 to 1824 and from 1807 to 1817, respectively. At the bottom right a large seal reads "Malt Section, Reverence for Books," a possible reference to Bōsai's fondness for sake; he used this seal on works dated from 1808 to 1823.[5] These three seals, the painting style, and the calligraphy of the signature help to date this scroll to the artist's late period, about 1817.

[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]

[1] On the life of Bōsai, see Addiss 1984; and Sugimura Eiji 1985. [2] For the English translation of this preface, see Addiss 1984, p. 116.
[3] Ibid., nos. 28a–h.
[4] Ibid., nos. 14, 15.
[5] Ibid., pp. 123–24.

Signature: Bosai Rojin Ko Suisha

Marking: Seals: Choko no Ki, Kaito Ronin, Kikubu Shosho

Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)

Orlando. Loch Haven Art Center. "Urban Beauties and Rural Charms," January 8, 1980–February 10, 1980.

New Orleans Museum of Art. "The World of Kameda Bosai: The Calligraphy, Poetry, Painting and Artistic Circle of a Japanese Literatus," February 10, 1984–March 25, 1984.

Seattle Art Museum. "The World of Kameda Bosai: The Calligraphy, Poetry, Painting and Artistic Circle of a Japanese Literatus," August 2, 1984–September 23, 1984.

Lawrence. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas. "The World of Kameda Bosai: The Calligraphy, Poetry, Painting and Artistic Circle of a Japanese Literatus," October 14, 1984–December 31, 1984.

Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 25, 1993–January 2, 1994.

Santa Barbara Museum of Art. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," February 26, 1994–April 24, 1994.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Jewel Rivers: Japanese Art from The Burke Collection.," October 14, 1994–January 1, 1995.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.

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. 291, cat. no. 371.