Accession Number
1961/2.2

Title
Summer

Artist(s)
Matsubayashi Keigetsu

Object Creation Date
Autumn 1922

Medium & Support
hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Dimensions
56 7/8 in. x 16 5/8 in. ( 144.4 cm x 42.2 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of Yoichi Nakajima

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Spring 2013
Matsubayashi Keigetsu
Japan, 1876–1963
Summer Landscape
Japan, Showa period (1926–89)
1922
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
Gift of Yoichi Nakajima 1961/2.2
This romantic idealization of nature draws on the centuries-old tradition of literati (amateur scholar-artist) painting in both China and Japan. For scholars and other members of the intelligentsia, nature was a place of mental refuge, even if only encountered through art. In this striking scroll, Matsubayashi Keigetsu, a successful commercial painter in the modern metropolis of Tokyo, presents a dramatic view of a lush summer landscape. Under the deep blue-green foliage, a scholar bends his ear to the sound of a rushing stream and gazes out from his hut at the surrounding mist, which promises more rain to come. The painting is inscribed “Autumn of 1922.”

Subject matter
A part of a pair created by Matsubayashi Keigetsu meant to present the dramatic contrast of summer and winter landscapes. Under the deep blue-green foliage of the summer landscape, a scholar bends his ear to the sound of a rushing stream and gazes out from his hut at the surrounding mist—the promise of more rain to come.
Keigetsu’s romantic idealization of nature draws on centuries of tradition of literati painting in both China and Japan. For scholars and other members of the intelligentsia, nature was a place of psychic refuge—even if only approached through armchair travel.

Physical Description
Image of a green mountain range that snakes from the lower right of the image to the upper right. The lower right of the image is further embellished with several detailed trees. Slightly lower and to the left of center is a small hut with a white figure standing on the porch.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
calligraphy (process)
hanging scrolls
hills
landscapes (environments)
mountains
summer (season)
trees