Nature/Natural
The daughter of a high-ranking samurai, Okuhara Seiko received the privileged education of a samurai and studied Chinese literature and philosophy, painting and poetry, and the martial arts. An unconventional spirit, she moved to the capital where she wore men’s clothes and kept her hair cut short while boldly pursuing a high-profile career as a professional painter. Seiko was renowned for her sharp wit and gregarious nature; she hosted frequent artist gatherings in her Tokyo residence and gathered a large circle of influential friends and students. Throughout her life she worked in the bunjinga style (the style favored by the scholar-gentlemen painters of China) and primarily painted landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings. The period regarded as the height of her artistic career came after she retired to the Kumagaya countryside in 1891. In her rural home far from the dramatic modernization occurring in the capital, Seiko lived a quiet life. There she continued to create bunjinga paintings, her brushwork becoming increasingly detailed. This painting is an excellent example of her refined later style; the monumental composition and highly descriptive brushwork of the mountain landscape heavily references Chinese artistic precedents. The poem Seiko composed and inscribed in the upper right corner underscores the lyrical quality of the painting:
The mountain rain that came at dawn has ceased
A stream in the valley divides like a swallow’s tail
Who is singing praises of this small lookout?
Outside the balustrade clouds are departing.
The daughter of a high-ranking samurai, Okuhara Seiko received the privileged education of a samurai and studied Chinese literature and philosophy, painting and poetry, and the martial arts. An unconventional spirit, she moved to the capital where she wore men’s clothes and kept her hair cut short while boldly pursuing a high-profile career as a professional painter. Seiko was renowned for her sharp wit and gregarious nature; she hosted frequent artist gatherings in her Tokyo residence and gathered a large circle of influential friends and students. Throughout her life she worked in the bunjinga style (the style favored by the scholar-gentlemen painters of China) and primarily painted landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings. The period regarded as the height of her artistic career came after she retired to the Kumagaya countryside in 1891. In her rural home far from the dramatic modernization occurring in the capital, Seiko lived a quiet life. There she continued to create bunjinga paintings, her brushwork becoming increasingly detailed. This painting is an excellent example of her refined later style; the monumental composition and highly descriptive brushwork of the mountain landscape heavily references Chinese artistic precedents. The poem Seiko composed and inscribed in the upper right corner underscores the lyrical quality of the painting:
The mountain rain that came at dawn has ceased
A stream in the valley divides like a swallow’s tail
Who is singing praises of this small lookout?
Outside the balustrade clouds are departing.
Exhibition Label:
"Nature/Natural," Feb-2011, Kris Ercums
The daughter of a high-ranking samurai, Okuhara Seiko received the privileged education of a samurai and studied Chinese literature and philosophy, painting and poetry, and the martial arts. An unconventional spirit, she moved to the capital where she wore men’s clothes and kept her hair cut short while boldly pursuing a high-profile career as a professional painter. Seiko was renowned for her sharp wit and gregarious nature; she hosted frequent artist gatherings in her Tokyo residence and gathered a large circle of influential friends and students. Throughout her life she worked in the bunjinga style (the style favored by the scholar-gentlemen painters of China) and primarily painted landscapes and bird-and-flower paintings. The period regarded as the height of her artistic career came after she retired to the Kumagaya countryside in 1891. In her rural home far from the dramatic modernization occurring in the capital, Seiko lived a quiet life. There she continued to create bunjinga paintings, her brushwork becoming increasingly detailed. This painting is an excellent example of her refined later style; the monumental composition and highly descriptive brushwork of the mountain landscape heavily references Chinese artistic precedents. The poem Seiko composed and inscribed in the upper right corner underscores the lyrical quality of the painting:
The mountain rain that came at dawn has ceased
A stream in the valley divides like a swallow’s tail
Who is singing praises of this small lookout?
Outside the balustrade clouds are departing.
Exhibition Label:
"Asian Gallery," Jul-2003, Youmi Efurd
Okuhara Seiko was one of the most important, as well as the most fascinating, of Japanese women artists. She was the daughter of a high-ranking samurai and received a typical samurai’s education, with emphasis on painting and calligraphy, Chinese literature, and the martial arts. She wore male clothing, cropped her hair, and adopted a male name. She developed a highly individualistic style, based on her study of Chinese and Japanese literati paintings, and became a much sought-after celebrity in turn-of-the-century Tokyo.
The painting depicts a river winding through the mountainous countryside. It is an outstanding example of her late period style, possessing a compositional monumentality and actual physical size, which reveals her deep study of Chinese literati painting. Seiko’s poem reads:
Mountain rain comes in the morning and rests,
Stream flows into branches like swallow’s tails,
Who admires and praises this small chamber?
Clouds return halfway outside the balustrade.
Exhibition Label:
"Selections for the Summer," Jun-2006, Mary Dusenbury
The mountain rain that came at dawn has ceased
A stream in the valley divides like a swallow’s tail
Who is singing praises of this small lookout?
Outside the balustrade clouds are departing.
