Pine Trees

The Pine Trees screens, by Hasegawa Tōhaku, show a stand of pines drifting in mist, painted in ink on paper. They are usually dated to around 1595, late in the sixteenth century during the Momoyama period, though the exact date is unknown. The work is a pair of six-panel folding screens, and the folds are part of the composition: branches lean toward or away from the viewer, creating a sense of depth. Sharply defined trees sit alongside softer forms blurred by haze, so the empty paper carries nearly as much weight as the ink. Ideas such as the Zen notion of ma and the rustic simplicity of wabi help explain this economy of means. Blending Chinese ink traditions with the Japanese yamato-e landscape theme, it is regarded as a Japanese innovation, since monochrome ink painting on this scale had no precedent in China. Some details, such as the slightly mismatched papers and the cropped trees at the far right, hint that it may have been a preparatory work. It is designated a National Treasure of Japan.

Painter

Hasegawa Tōhaku

Date

1580

Medium

wood, paper, ink

Dimensions

157 × 356 cm

Museum

Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo

Movement

Hasegawa school

Genre

byōbu-e, ink wash painting

Depicts

Pinus, fog

Share:FacebookWhatsApp