Autumn Song from the Odes of Wu, Taniguchi Kōkyō

Archive Label 2003:
The title of this work is taken from one of the “Odes of Wu” by the famous eighth-century Chinese poet Libo (Li Po; 701-762). It reads, in part:
Chang’an is bathed in moonlight;
Sounds from the pounding of cloth echo from a myriad of households.
Like the ceaseless blowing of the chill autumn wind
I yearn endlessly for my man standing guard at Yumen Pass...

The woman in the painting holds a wooden mallet in her left hand, which is used to pound cloth to soften it in preparation for making winter clothing. With the men fighting on the frontier, the women continue the activity long into the night.

Exhibition Label:
Tradition and Modernity: Japanese Art of the Early Twentieth Century," Jan-2005, Hillary Pedersen
Kōkyō was one of the leading students of Kono Bairei (1844-1895), an extremely influential painter and art teacher who played a major role in the modernization of traditional Japanese painting, or nihonga, in the Kyoto area. Kōkyō exhibited and won a prize in the first government sponsored art exhibition, the Bunten, and was frequently called upon to serve on the panel of judges. This painting combines Western-derived principles of perspective and the use of light and shadow with fine, strong, even linework, which is a hallmark of traditional Japanese painting. The result is a composition that presents a new vision, but one that is still imbued with the exquisite softness and lyrical beauty found in the best of the native tradition.

The subject of this painting comes from a poem by the famous eighth-century Chinese poet Libo (Li Po; 701-762). It describes the loneliness and anxiety felt by women of the period as they waited for the men to return from the battlefield. The woman in the painting holds a wooden mallet in her left hand, which is used to pound and soften cloth in preparation for making winter clothing. With the men fighting on the frontier, the women continue this type of activity long into the night.