Accession Number
1972/2.380

Title
Mountain Valley in Autumn

Artist(s)
Noro Kaiseki

Object Creation Date
1825

Medium & Support
hanging scroll, ink and light color on silk

Dimensions
69 1/4 in. x 16 3/4 in. ( 175.9 cm x 42.6 cm )

Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Kurt A. Gitter

Subject matter
"The present painting closely follows the Huang style as seen in I Fu-chiu's colored landscape paintings. A triptych of landscape paintings in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art was done in 1824, the year before this painting. Kaiseki inscribed on one of the set that they were in the style of I-Fu-chiu. They reveal similar brushwork and compositions to the Michigan painting. The blending of the pink and blue colors in the mountains coupled with the horizontal or slanting dots scattered over longer sloping ts'un strokes is characteristic of Kaiseki'swork when he is following I Fu-chiu's colored style."
"This painting exemplifies the height of Kaiseki's powers in calligraphy and brushwork and expresses his understanding of the Chinese literati tradition."

Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.

Physical Description
This is a mountain valley, "with its foreground landspit and trees silhouetted against an expanse of water with tall mountains soaring in the background."
"The poem that Kaiseki inscribed on this landscape effectively captures the mood of the painting.

Whose house in the hillside woods by the full stream?
High trees spreading out among the rocks. 
Fallen leaves completely carried away by the river and the rain
Leaving only the color of autumn to fill the sky and hills."

Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.

 

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Japan
autumn
bridges
bridges (built works)
calligraphy
calligraphy (visual works)
hanging scrolls
houses
huts
huts (houses)
ink
mountains
riverine bodies of water
trees
valleys
valleys (landforms)
water