Red Ivy and a Small Bird

The mood of autumn is caught in this vignette of coloristic drama by the Nihonga artist Oka Buntō, who trained in the kind of naturalistic realism advocated by his Shijō school teachers. At the same time, he plays with broad expanses of color and blank space in abstract ways that reveal the new tendencies of modern painting in Japan. Sitting on the rock is a single small bird, which resembles a jay (kashidori or kakesu), though the artist seems to have taken liberties to make the under plumage redder than usual, no doubt to echo the vibrant orange-red of the dangling vines of Japanese ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidate), which has clusters of blue berries in the autumn season. Outcrops of lichen on the gnarled tree trunk and smooth stone are rendered with an almost sculptural effect.

Oka Buntō (given name, Tōzo) was born in Tango province, and moved to Kyoto to study at the Kyoto City School of Arts and the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting. His most influential teacher was Yamamoto Shunkyo (1871–1933). He worked in the Shijō style. He was accepted for the juried Bunten exhibitions in 1912, 1915 and 1916 and won various awards.