folding fan with image of willows, a fisherman, and a calm waterscape: image with cluster of willow trees at bottom center; man in boat fishing at UL; inscription with two red square stamps at upper center; scene with willows, shore, and two low buildings at UR; tinted with light blue, silver, brown, and pink pigments

Song of Fishing Among Willows, second half 19th century

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Literati-style painting reached peak popularity in Japan in the 1860s and 1870s. Although their works celebrate ideals such as reclusion and amateur art, literati painters like Taniguchi Aizan were actually professional artists active in large urban centers. Many made good livings by selling their paintings on folding fans or hanging scrolls and by receiving commissions. For this folding fan, Aizan created an image of a solitary fisherman gliding in a boat between riverbanks lined by willow trees and remote huts. Such a bucolic scene might have appealed to Aizan’s urban clients in Edo (called Tokyo after 1868) and Kyoto.

Details
Title
Song of Fishing Among Willows
Artist Life
1816 - 1899
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2013.29.605
Curator Approved

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folding fan with image of willows, a fisherman, and a calm waterscape: image with cluster of willow trees at bottom center; man in boat fishing at UL; inscription with two red square stamps at upper center; scene with willows, shore, and two low buildings at UR; tinted with light blue, silver, brown, and pink pigments