Archive Label 2003 (version 1):
This triptych of a painting and two scrolls of calligraphy is a tribute to the vitality of the theme of the ‘Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion’ in China and Japan. Shukuya Aoki illustrated the gathering in the center scroll, and in the flanking calligraphy wrote the ‘Preface to the Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion’ in the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi. A translation of this preface is below. The iconic elements of the famous gathering are all present: Wang in the pavilion, the geese, the floating wine cups, and the poets arranged along the winding stream. This painting, however, renders the scene very differently from the colorful handscroll of the same theme elsewhere in this exhibition. Shukuya evokes the garden setting by creating patterned areas of foliage painted with light, energetic brushstrokes. The composition and individual brushstrokes curve and twist gracefully, like the necks of the geese that inspired Wang. His use of the brush owes as much to the techniques of calligraphy as it does to painting. It is the ‘literati’ style, an influential mode of painting associated with refined and educated gentlemen and ladies.
Archive Label 2003 (version 2):
This triptych of a painting and two scrolls of calligraphy is a tribute to the vitality of the theme of the ‘Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion’ in China and Japan. Shukuya Aoki illustrated the gathering in the center scroll, and in the flanking calligraphy wrote the ‘Preface to the Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion’ in the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi. A translation of this preface is below. The iconic elements of the famous gathering are all present: Wang in the pavilion, the geese, the floating wine cups, and the poets arranged along the winding stream. This painting, however, renders the scene very differently from the colorful handscroll of the same theme elsewhere in this exhibition. Shukuya evokes the garden setting by creating patterned areas of foliage painted with light, energetic brushstrokes. The composition and individual brushstrokes curve and twist gracefully, like the necks of the geese that inspired Wang. His use of the brush owes as much to the techniques of calligraphy as it does to painting. It is the ‘literati’ style, an influential mode of painting associated with refined and educated gentlemen and ladies.
Archive Label 2003 (version 3):
This painting depicts a famous fourth-century gathering of poets that took place at the Orchid Pavilion owned by Wang Xizhi. As a cup of wine floated down the stream, each guest took it in turn and composed a poem. Wang Xizhi assembled the poems and wrote what became a very well-known introduction to the collection, “Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering.”
In Shukuya’s painting, the host sits at a table in the upper pavilion. Shukuya pays homage to his teacher, Ike Taiga, in the patterned areas of foliage rendered with light, vibrant brushstrokes and in the playful lines describing his figures. The preface, in the artist’s hand, appears on the two narrow scrolls that flank the painting.
Exhibition Label:
"The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong
The Orchid Pavilion Gathering is a celebrated event that occurred in China in 353 C.E. Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-ca. 361), a celebrated calligrapher, invited forty-one distinguished guests to the Orchid Pavilion for a day of wine, poetry and celebration. If one follows the winding stream up the scroll, one encounters numerous men ensconced in lush settings. They appear to be enjoying each other’s company while writing poetry and drinking the wine floating by in small cups. In the celebrated pavilion at the apex of this landscape are probably Wang Xizhi and some companions. Wang wrote a preface to all of the poetry produced that day and this later became the most celebrated work of calligraphy. This preface is written on the two scrolls that flank the central scroll and recount the memorable events of day. It ends, though, on a melancholy note as the author recognizes how brief life and its pleasures are.
Exhibition Label:
"Selections for the Summer," Jun-2006, Mary Dusenbury
Brush and ink intimately linked work and image in East Asia. The high level of skill required to brush a fine poem or essay was also the core skill needed to create a compelling painting. Viewers often took as much pleasure in the brushwork of a painting as in its content or composition. Handling the brush effectively required years of practice, discipline, knowledge of the classics and, it was believed, a fine character. Thus a fine “hand“ became the mark of an educated, interesting person of high moral character.
This painting depicts a famous gathering of Chinese poets in 353 CE at Lanting (the Orchid Pavilion) in Zhejiang Province. The scholars had gathered on the third day of the third moon to celebrate the annual Spring Purification Festival, to enjoy the tall mountains and majestic peaks...clear streams and gurgling rapids...*, to drink, and to compose poems. A distinguished guest, Wang Xizhi (307-365), wrote a preface for the collected poems. Wang was a legendary calligrapher even in his own time, and the content and brushwork of his preface became a model for later scholar/poets, including Aoki Shukuya almost 1400 years later.
