Quiet Hamlet, Yi Fujiu

Exhibition Label: "Images of the Journey," Jun-2005, Hillary Pedersen Yi Fujiu (Japanese: I Fukyu-) was a native of Suzhou, a southeastern Chinese city famous for its canals, gardens, and literati culture. A ship owner and merchant, Yi made a series of trading voyages to Nagasaki between 1720 and 1747. In his landscapes, Yi Fujiu emulated the “bland” and restrained poetic spirit of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) scholar-painters, thereby offering Japanese artists and intellectuals a model of Chinese literati style. His works were greatly admired in Japan and influenced generations of Japanese literati artists throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With its careful brushwork and delicate coloring, Quiet Hamlet is representative of early Qing works in the manner of the Yuan-dynasty master Ni Zan (1301-74). Archive: A native of Suzhou, Yi Fujiu (Japanese: I Fukyu) was a merchant and ship owner who conducted an export business with Japanese in Nagasaki from 1720-1747. A self-educated literatus, he excelled in painting, poetry and calligraphy. Quiet Hamlet is composed much like early Qing dynasty versions of the Yuan dynasty master Ni Zan's landscape with careful brushwork and delicate coloring. Yi Fujiu's works were greatly admired by Japanese literati painters, who were eager for direct contact with the mainland.