Landscape

Yi Fujiu

1698–after 1747

Landscape, 1753, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)

Where object was made: China

Material/technique: paper; ink

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 126.5 x 46.5 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 49 13/16 x 18 5/16 in
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 200.7 x 59.7 cm
Mount Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 79 1/2 x 23 1/2 in

Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Hutchinson

Accession number: 1983.0093

Not on display

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Nature/Natural

Yi Fujiu was born to a merchant family in Suzhou in 1698, the center of an artistic and cultural renaissance during the mid-Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). His family’s foreign trade business allowed for frequent visits to Nagasaki, Japan’s only port open to foreign ships at the time. The restrictions on foreign trade under the Tokugawa government’s closed-door policy greatly reduced opportunities for Japanese painters to learn about the latest artistic trends in China. Although relatively unknown in his homeland, Yi Fujiu was greatly admired in Nagasaki for transmitting new painting styles from continental Asia to Japan. The gentle, organic quality of his painting is meant to communicate the “mind landscape” of a literati recluse, which is infused with a certain degree of eccentricity. This painting demonstrates Yi Fujiu’s pursuit of an individual style through the creation of a dream-like vision consisting of surreal conical hills topped by sparse, strange trees.

Exhibition Label: "Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums Yi Fujiu was born to a merchant family in Suzhou in 1698, the center of an artistic and cultural renaissance during the mid-Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). His family’s foreign trade business allowed for frequent visits to Nagasaki, Japan’s only port open to foreign ships at the time. The restrictions on foreign trade under the Tokugawa government’s closed-door policy greatly reduced opportunities for Japanese painters to learn about the latest artistic trends in China. Although relatively unknown in his homeland, Yi Fujiu was greatly admired in Nagasaki for transmitting new painting styles from continental Asia to Japan. The gentle, organic quality of his painting is meant to communicate the “mind landscape” of a literati recluse, which is infused with a certain degree of eccentricity. This painting demonstrates Yi Fujiu’s pursuit of an individual style through the creation of a dream-like vision consisting of surreal conical hills topped by sparse, strange trees.