Mount Tiantai, Yi Fujiu

Exhibition Label: “The Sacred and the Secular: Buddhist Imagery in Religious and Popular Contexts,” Oct-2005, Hillary Pedersen Mt. Tiantai is the home of Tiantai Buddhism, founded at this site by the sixth century monk Zhiyi. The famous monastary he built here became an important center for Buddhist teachings. Yi Fujiu painted this famous Chinese mountain for a priest-friend, Bangyoku, whose lifelong desire was to pray at the temple on Mt. Tiantai. The landscape is composed with Yi Fujiu’s characteristic motifs: small boulders piled to form rounded river banks and sloping mountain plateaus in a dense arrangement. The dry fiber-like strokes are gradually layered and mold the land forms and create surface textures. This landscape is accompanied by ten letters, four of which are mounted on the two flanking scrolls seen here. The letters document the ownership of the painting after Bangyoku’s death, and also show that the painting was highly admired and regarded as a valuable model. Rather than being regarded as objects of worship, landscape paintings like this would be viewed in scholarly settings where a scholar could experience virtual travel through the scene and experience some kind of spiritual resonance with the image. Archive Label: Yi Fujiu painted this famous Chinese mountain for a priest-friend, Bangyoku, whose lifelong desire was to pray at the temple on Mt. Tiantai. The landscape is composed on Yi Fujiu's characteristic motifs: small boulders piled to form rounded river banks and sloping mountain plateaus, densely arranged in the style of Huang Gongwang. Also in the manner of Huang are the dry hemp-fiber strokes, gradually layered, which mold the land forms and create surface textures. This ladscape is accompanied by ten letters, four of which are mounted on the two flanking scrolls. The letters document the ownership of the painting after Banyoku's death, and also show that the painting was highly admired and regarded as a valuable model. Archive Label date unknown: I Hai is one of the most important Chinese painters who visited Japan during the Edo period. He visited Nagasaki a number of times in the early 18th century, providing a direct model for those Japanese artists eager to learn the secrets of the Chinese literati painting tradition. I Hai's landscapes are typified by Mt. Tendai which was casually done with soft, grey tones of ink. The sense of restraint, modesty and personal flavor of I Hai's paintings were highly admired by the Japanese. This is indicated by the letters hanging on either side of this painting which were written by Japanese artists who saw or owned "Mt. Tendai." Among them were Ike Taiga, Aoki Shukuya and the monk Goshin whose words are filled with praise for this literati artist.