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KANO TAN'YU. Landscapes of the Four Seasons

Landscapes of the Four Seasons. Artist: Kano Tan'yu (Japanese, 1602-1674). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image (each): 60 3/8 in. × 11 ft. 6 7/8 in. (153.4 × 352.7 cm). Date: 1630s.
At far right, a stream fed by melting snow comes tumbling down out of the mountains, symbolizing the onset of spring. This foreground of waterfalls, bent trees, and rooftops suddenly gives way to an expanse of blank paper--a diagonal swath of mist that parts to reveal distant summer mountains. A flock of geese and the large moon are the only indications of autumn in the left screen (not exhibited), which is dominated by icy mountains and a snow-covered village.
A grandson of the great Momoyama painter Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), Kano Tan'yu had, by the time he was a teenager, already become official painter to the second Tokugawa shogun Hidetada (1579- 1632; reigned 1605-1623). This pair of screens is dated on stylistic grounds to the 1630s, when Tan'yu was head of the Kano school's Kajibashi atelier in Edo, which Tan'yu himself had established in 1621.

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Author: KANO TAN'YU (1602-1674)

Title: Landscapes of the Four Seasons

Caption: Landscapes of the Four Seasons. Artist: Kano Tan'yu (Japanese, 1602-1674). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image (each): 60 3/8 in. × 11 ft. 6 7/8 in. (153.4 × 352.7 cm). Date: 1630s. At far right, a stream fed by melting snow comes tumbling down out of the mountains, symbolizing the onset of spring. This foreground of waterfalls, bent trees, and rooftops suddenly gives way to an expanse of blank paper--a diagonal swath of mist that parts to reveal distant summer mountains. A flock of geese and the large moon are the only indications of autumn in the left screen (not exhibited), which is dominated by icy mountains and a snow-covered village. A grandson of the great Momoyama painter Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), Kano Tan'yu had, by the time he was a teenager, already become official painter to the second Tokugawa shogun Hidetada (1579- 1632; reigned 1605-1623). This pair of screens is dated on stylistic grounds to the 1630s, when Tan'yu was head of the Kano school's Kajibashi atelier in Edo, which Tan'yu himself had established in 1621.

Technique/material: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper

Period: Edo period (1615-1868)

Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Credit: Album

Image size: 4800 × 2311 px | 31.7 MB

Print size: 40.6 × 19.6 cm | 1889.8 × 909.8 in (300 dpi)

Keywords: ASIA • ASIAN ART • EDO PERIOD (1615-1868) • FURNITURE • INK • JAPAN • KANO TAN'YU • METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, USA • PAIR OF SIX-PANEL FOLDING SCREENS; INK AND COLOR ON PAPER • PANELS • PAPER • SCREENS