The Four Seasons
Tan'yū's skills were honed early within the regimen of the Kano family's painting studio. His grandfather, Eitoku (1543–1590) was the Momoyama period's most sought-after painter, a champion of colorful, large-scale painting compositions who worked for several of the country's most powerful leaders. When the young Tan'yū was summoned to Edo in 1617 by the shogun to become a member of the new capital's official painting studio, few opportunities to work on similarly ambitious projects existed. Yet by the end of his career, Tan'yū had supervised the execution and installation of linked mural painting compositions in several of Japan's most prestigious residences and castles. As an official court painter to the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu (reigned 1603–5), and then his successors, Tan'yū appears to have successfully juggled his official duties with private activities as a teacher, as the era's leading connoisseur of classic Chinese and Japanese painting, and as a practicing artist. His surviving compositions as well as thousands of sketches far surpass the oeuvre of any of his contemporaries. While studio assistants surely contributed to his oeuvre, just as later imitators consciously confused his accomplishments, a clearer image of the painter has emerged in recent years that better conforms with his contemporary acclaim as recorded in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century documents. Tan'yū can now be seen as an artist adept in virtually all traditional ink painting subject matter, which he often presented in novel interpretations. Equally important are his rare screen (byōbu) compositions executed in a pure yamato-e manner with vivid mineral pigments on a gold-foil background. This pair of byōbu presents Tan'yū's more orthodox approach to academic ink painting methods embracing Chinese themes that had been interpreted by numerous Japanese ink painters over the centuries. Thus a typical view of residences and human activities set along the shores of an impressive river (or lake) is enlivened by the Japanese proclivity for including seasonal references. Proceeding from right to left, the viewer passes sequentially from spring to the snow-laden branches of winter. Tan'yū lends considerable atmospherics to the panorama in his use of misty cloud banks, frequently set off by sharp, darkened ink lines or whole areas of ink washes of variegated tonalities. The spring and summer views are particularly notable in this regard, as is the presence of the artist's signature on both byōbu, attesting to their completion in Tan'yū's sixty-seventh year (1668)—50 years after he left Kyoto for the capital, and 30 years following his adoption of the artist name "Tan'yū" (in 1635). From 1622, when he began work on the mural paintings for Edo castle (the shogun's formal residence), through the completion of the painting cycle in 1636 for the Tokugawa family mausoleum in Nikkō to the north of Edo, Tan'yū's skills as head of an accomplished painting studio as well as a master painter found their most impressive expression in large-scale compositions. In 1638 he received the honorary Buddhist title Hōgen (Eye of the Law). It is intriguing therefore that relatively few independent byøbu paintings from the master's hand survive, particularly documented early works.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- 1668
- Dimensions
- image: height 1.74 m, width 3.81 m
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Bequest of Maud Eells Corning
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Landscapes and Waterscapes Both · 99%
The image is dominated by mountains, rocky shores, distant hills, and broad areas of water; the museum describes the work as a panoramic landscape of residences and activities along a river or lake.
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Atmospheric Landscapes Both · 96%
Mist, cloud banks, atmospheric washes, and softened distant forms are prominent in the image, and the catalog specifically emphasizes the work’s atmospherics.
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The Seasons Both · 98%
The title is The Four Seasons, and the museum description identifies a right-to-left progression from spring to winter with seasonal references in the landscape.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 96%
Muted beige, brown, gray, and olive tones dominate the painted surface, with only limited color variation.
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Sparse Visual · 93%
Large pale areas of mist, open water, and lightly worked paper create an open, relatively sparse composition.
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Linear Forms Visual · 95%
Rock contours, tree branches, architectural edges, and boats are articulated through deliberate linear marks set against softer washes.
Medium and Techniques
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Screen Format Both · 99%
The object is identified as a six-panel folding screen, and six hinged vertical panels are clearly visible in the image.
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East Asian Ink-and-Wash Painting Both · 99%
The catalog specifies ink and slight color on paper, while the image visibly combines linear ink drawing with diluted washes and restrained coloration.
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The museum classifies the object as a painting and identifies its medium as a folding screen executed on paper.
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Work on Paper Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the work as ink and slight color on paper.
Time Periods
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17th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The work is dated 1668, placing it within the seventeenth century.
Geographic Regions
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Japanese Art Metadata · 99%
The museum record identifies the artist as Japanese, the place of origin as Japan, and the department as Japanese Art.
Source & rights
Kano Tan’yū (Japanese, 1602–1674). The Four Seasons. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 16,524 × 7,829 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available