Reverberations of Taiga, Volume 2 (leaf 9)

1704

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Reverberations of Taiga, Volume 2 (leaf 9) is a 1704 by Aoki Shukuya, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Aoki Shukuya
When & what style?: 1704 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This ink sketch shows jagged rocks, twisted pines, and layered mountains in gray wash. The lines look loose but control the ink perfectly—no wobbles. You can almost feel the wind in the pines. This was likely a student exercise, done to copy Ikeno Taiga’s style. The artist trained hard to match his master’s brushwork. The Cleveland Museum of Art owns this piece.

The story of this work

Overview

Traditionally, young painters in Japan began their studies with an established master-painter. The master's compositions invariably became models that the apprentice copied to learn various ink and brush techniques. Shukuya was a pupil of the famous Kyoto artist Ikeno Taiga, whose style is reflected in these sketches of rocks, trees, and mountains.

Read the full account in the museum source.