Exchange: Professor Paul Berry workshop objects

Professor Paul Berry workshop objects

Professor Paul Berry workshop objects

These objects are to be the object of study and discussion in a workshop (Wednesday, November 29) on Edo-period painting and connoisseurship, led by visiting scholar Professor Paul Berry.

This hanging scroll depicts three white chrysanthemums. The flowers form a dynamic arc, and were executed with powerful, rapid brushstrokes. The contrast between the thin lines of the petals of the flowers and the dark thick strokes made with the side of the brush suggesting the leaves and stalks of the plants creates the main visual drama of the painting.

Soga Shōhaku
Chrysanthemums
hanging scroll, ink on paper
47 5/8 in x 21 5/8 in (120.97 cm x 54.93 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

This hanging scroll depicts a scholar seated in a pavillion built into a mountainous landscape overlooking a bay. In the foreground, dark rocks rise up from the water to the right, while two large trees extend out over the water. Behind this is a series of five structures with a single figure inside, gazing out over the water. In the background, mist and mountains are suggested through the use of a lighter gray ink wash.

Soga Shōhaku
House by the Bay
hanging scroll, ink on paper
48 7/8 in x 20 in (124.1 cm x 50.8 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

This hanging scroll depicts a bearded figure in billowing robes standing on a sword on the waves of a river. The figure is depicted with a great economy of line, with his face being indicated with a minimal amount of brushstrokes and the sense of the fluttering of his robes being indicated through a series of bold brushtrokes using dark ink and a dry brush. An inscription is placed on the upper right corner.

Soga Shōhaku
Crossing the Yangtze on a Sword
hanging scroll, ink on paper
49 5/16 in x 19 9/16 in (125.2 cm x 49.7 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

This hanging scroll depicts a man walking along a mountainous path overlooking a group of buildings and distant mountains. In the foreground, the figure moves to the left, and is placed before a large tree growing out of the rocks. The middle of the painting is dominated by a diagonal line created by the roofs of various structures leading to three larger mountain peaks, indicated with light gray washes.

Soga Shōhaku
Strolling in the Mountains
hanging scroll, ink on paper
49 1/16 in x 19 11/16 in (124.6 cm x 50 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

There is a plum branch with a bird on it. The branches are really thin with tiny flowers on them. In the bottom right corner, there is a signature and a date. Surrounding the paper is a border with gold flowers for the design.

Maruyama Ōkyo
Bird on a Plum Branch
hanging scroll, ink on silk
16 in x 22 in (40.64 cm x 55.88 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

View Object Record

There are two scholars playing the board game Go on a cliffside and by a waterfall. One scholar is facing toward us and wearing blue, while the other scholar is facing away from us and wearing white. There is a stone path leading down, a tree hanging above them, a mountainside in the background from which the waterfall comes from, and mist coming from the waterfall.

Maruyama Ōkyo
Scholars Playing Go by a Waterfall
hanging scroll, ink and light color on paper
64 15/16 in x 34 3/4 in (164.94 cm x 88.27 cm);3 1/8 in x 43 7/8 in x 3 5/16 in (7.94 cm x 111.44 cm x 8.41 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Province M. Henry

View Object Record

In the bottom right corner of the painting, there are two buildings placed at the bottom of a hill that has plants growing on it. Next to them is a small cluster of trees, close enough where their trunks are visible. In the distance, there are more trees running across the painting, however, only the foliage is visible. The leaves on these trees stand out because each individual leaf is inked. There is another small cluster of buildings on the far left of the painting behind these trees. Further in the distance are mountains.

Hine Taizan
Landscape after Shen Zhou (Chinese artist, 1427-1509)
handscroll, ink on paper
11 7/8 in x 334 1/2 in (30.1 cm x 849.6 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

<p>"As the path leads the eye into the picture from the right, the ground seems to swell until it bulges wildly over a stream whose surface can be briefly glimpsed. The middle of the painting is dominated by very tall twisting treetrunks laden with large masses of foliage through which can be seen several houses. At the top loom various mountains slanting off to the right. In the manner of Buson (1716-1783) or one of his followers, a figure seated in the window of a house calmly stares out at the viewer. This painting takes the love of unusual natural shapes foun

Totoki Baigai
Studio in the Mountain Forest
hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
53 1/2 in x 22 1/8 in (135.9 cm x 56.2 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

View Object Record

In this hanging scroll, Rosetsu depicts an owl perched on a rock in front of a large moon hanging low in the sky. The soft washes and quick brushstrokes used in the image create an overall sense of airiness, but maintain a clear sense of naturalism in depicting the owl's anatomy.

Nagasawa Rosetsu
Owl and Moon
hanging scroll, ink on paper
43 in x 10 1/2 in (109.2 cm x 26.7 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

View Object Record

Horizontally oriented. Begins with two large characters then a series of folliage imagery proceeded by calligraphy. Ink on paper, hand scroll.

Unge (Taigan)
Orchids Room
handscroll, ink on paper
11 in x 264 in (27.9 cm x 670.6 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

View Object Record

The "painting richly evokes a darkly overcast day with a rider wearing a straw raincoat accompanied by a man on foot carrying luggage. The horse seems delighted as its hooves sink  into the thick snow on the path. Large daubs of white pigment are used to represent the falling snow called <em>botan</em><em> </em><em>yuki"</em><br />
<br />
<b id="docs-internal-guid-ecb68b88-7fff-cddd-9168-660eb3400d03">Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. <em>Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art.</em> Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.</b><br />

Ki Baitei
Winter Rider
hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
52 1/8 in x 22 1/2 in (132.4 cm x 57.1 cm);2 3/4 in x 27 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in (7 cm x 69.5 cm x 7 cm)
Museum Purchase

View Object Record

This hanging scroll depicts a chicken executed in rapid brushstrokes, using various shades of black ink. The face of the bird is naturalistically depicted, while its tail feathers are somewhat abstracted.

Itō Jakuchū
Rooster on a Branch
hanging scroll, ink on paper
72 1/2 in x 24 3/4 in (184.15 cm x 62.87 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

View Object Record

Next 12