Nanga: Tvansfomations in Japanese Literati Painting

Nanga: Tvansfomations in
Japanese Literati Painting
Stephen Addiss
A
s the world becomes more and more interconnected More specifically, inscriptions on many nanga works meant
through travel and communication, the examination of that painting, poetry and calligraphy (the 'three treasures' of
how artistic ideas and styles move and transform from cul- China) were combined into a single visual expression.
ture to culture becomes increasingly
relevant. One case in point is nanga (also
known as bunjinga), works by Japanese
poet-painters in the Chinese literati tradition.
The word nanga means 'southern
painting', which in China had come to
represent the art of scholar-amateurs, as
opposed to the 'northern' school of professional
artists. (This formula tion, not
strictly historical, had been made by the
theoretician-artist Dong Qichang
[1555-16361.) Although Chinese literati
painting had appeared hundreds of
years earlier, this tradition did not take
hold in Japan until the 18th century,
when a vogue for things Chinese once
again came to the fore. This was in part
due to the Tokugawa government's
growing support for Confucian scholarship
and education. In addition, the fact
that Japan was closed off from the rest
of the world by an isolationist regime
only increased the fascination with Chinese
culture.
What were the main features of
nanga First came the idea of practising
the arts as a form of self-cultivation.
Although Japanese literati masters often
had to earn a living through their art
(unlike many Chinese literati, who were
supported by government positions
gained through competitive examinations),
they generally painted as an expression
of their own individual spirit.
Second, nanga painters were usually
adept at at least one other form of art,
and their appreciation for (and skills in)
calligraphy, Chinese poetry, waha,
Third, nanga was a way of interacting
with the literati past. Paintings
might be done in the style of a famous
Chinese literatus, who himself may
have been emulating an earlier master.
Each artist would add his or her own
variation or transformation of the particular
theme, such as a specific motif,
composition, style of brushwork, or a
combination of the three. In this way a
painter-poet could commune with the
past while creating something new.
What might be considered copying in
the West was perfectly acceptable because
it has long been believed that
every stroke of the flexible East Asian
brush cannot help but reveal the individual
character of its author.
Fourth, nanga was a means of expressing
a personal reaction to nature,
usually in terms of landscape but also
including human nature in figural compositions.
Depth of feeling and spirit
was considered more important than an
emphasis on technique, so spending
time in the mountains and valleys was
preferred to merely honing one's painterly
skills. The educated person's lifelong
practice of writing, which becomes
calligraphy, would impart
enough control of brush and ink to be
able to express what was in his or her
heart.
Finally, nanga represented a type of
transformation, common in Japanese
cultural history, in which an influence
from abroad is absorbed and made into
something new and fresh. The age-old
haiku, music, seal-carving, tea culture (Fig. 1) Bamboo and Rock
sense of beauty in Japan, featuring
By Gion Nankai (1677-1751), 1747
andlor ceramics increased their range
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
asymmetry, an appreciation of natural
and added depth to their artistic world. Height 100.2 cm, width 36.8 cm
effects, a strong sense of purity com-

ined with the enjoyment of visual drama, and a love of demonstrates how his skill in calligraphy could be directly
direct emotional expression, led nanga masters, like other applied to the kind of vigorous and dynamic brushwork
painters before them, to transform Chinese traditions into appropriate for one of the 'four gentlemen' subjects that
an art that is ultimately Japanese in spirit.
expressed the virtues of the scholar-sage (Fig. 1). Bamboo,
Because nanga was personal to each artist, it did not for example, is never ostentatious, but stays fresh and green
become a 'school' in the usual Japanese sense of family through the harsh winter, and can bounce back resiliently
ateliers and apprenticeship, but was rather learned individu- from under the weight of snow. Similarly, the scholar-sage
ally, or through informal fnteractions with friends. But since endures adverse conditions without complaint. Nankai's life,
direct contact with China was cut off, how could Japanese as well as his art, represents these values.
artists study this Chinese tradition for themselves The Although pioneers such as Nankai created fine paintings,
primary means were imported woodblock books, some of poetry and calligraphy, nanga came to fruition in the second
them of the 'how-to' variety; interactions
generation of literati artists. Perhaps the cenwith
the few Chinese allowed in Japan, in- tral figure among them was Ike Taiga ( 1723-
cluding Ch'an (Zen) monks in Uji (near
76), a child prodigy in calligraphy who also
Kyoto) and also traders in Nagasaki (Addiss,
showed amazing prowess in painting at a
ed., Japanese Quest for a New Vision,
tender age. This early blossoming of talent
Lawrence, 1986); imported paintings, which
was unusual in literati painting, where many
tended to be of lesser artistic quality, but
artists reached their peak in their sixties and
which showed the main Chinese traditions;
seventies, but, according to all who knew
and meetings with Korean visitors who came
him, Taiga was an exceptional person as well
to Japan in official delegations, and who were
as artist, with a lofty spirit combined with
often highly versed in literati arts (see various
precocious talent.
publications by Burglind Jungmann, includ-
A Taiga ink landscape, seemingly simple,
ing Painters as Envoys: Korean Inspiration in
represents the full powers of visual transfor-
Eighteenth Century Japanese Nanga, Prince-
mation that the finest nanga artists achieved
ton, 2004).
(Fig. 2). Kinzan Island shows a scene on the
None of these was the equivalent of thor-
Yangtze river near Jinjiang that was often
ough immersion in Chinese literati art, but
painted in China, usually in handscrolls of
this was not necessarily a setback for Japa-
Yangtze views. Taiga may have encountered
nese painters. Nanga works from the 18th
such a painting, or more likely would have
century, when artists had less idea of Chinese
seen a woodblock depiction of this scene in
styles, were often more freely painted than
a Chinese volume of 'Famous Mountains'
those of the 19th, when there was a better
that was imported and later reprinted in
understanding of the continental literati tradition.
Using paintings in the Ruth and Sherman
Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark
Center in Hanford, California as examples,
we can observe many of the characteristic
features of nanga. Although there was a
pro to-literati movement in the 14th century,
nanga as such began with the work of artists
like Gion Nankai (1677- 175 I), who was considered
the finest Chinese-language poet of
his time in Japan. When serving his local lord
in Wakayama as a samurai-official, Nankai7s
bold individualism caused him problems
which led to the punishment of being exiled
to a poor country village. However, he was
exonerated in order to participate in gatherings
with Korean envoys, where poetic ex-
(Fig. 3) Kinzan Island
changes were made in written Chinese, since
(Fig. 2) Kinza* Island
17th century
By Ike Taiga (1723-76)
Woodblock print
neither party knew the other's native lan- Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Height 19.4 cm, width 13.4 cm
guages. Nankai's Bamboo and Rock of 1747 Height 113.2 cm, width 27.9 cm
Private collection

Japan (Fig. 3). While the print is made up of brisk linear
elements, Taiga has simplified and broadened his brushwork.
He seems to have rolled up a piece of paper to use as
a brush, and then dipped it in varylng tones of grey ink to
create the form of the island. This shape is broken near the
top left of the mountain, as though sunlight might be reflecting
off the water towards the viewer. A few deftly applied
dots add a sense of foliage, and a bridge leading off the
composition, a small lower island, fishing nets above, and a
few boats complete the sparse pictorial elements, to which
the artist's cursive-script signature and seals add important
visual accentuations.
Further comparing this painting with the print, we can
see how Taiga has extended the elements vertically, eliminated
what he thought was unnecessary (including a group
(Fig. 4)
Old Woman and Ox
By Okada Beisanjin
(1 744-1 820), 181 3
Hanging scroll,
ink on silk
Height 101.5 cm,
width 33.5 cm
(Fig. 5) Akashi Bay
By Ike Gyokuran
(1 727-84)
Fan painting,
ink on mica paper
Height 36.2 cm,
width 50.3 cm
of houses at the lower part of the island), and substituted a
hut and two small trees for the temple at the top of the
mountain. Intriguingly, the two trees are very similar to a
cursive version of the character hotobuhi (long life), leading
to the speculation that this work might have been presented
to a friend celebrating his 60th or 70th birthday. In any case,
Taiga has achieved a remarkable transformation of the Chinese
scene into a fully Japanese aesthetic, featuring asyrnmetry,
visual drama, and suggestion rather than full definition.
In the process, he has deconstructed the Chinese emphasis
on brushstrokes in favour of creating a mood that expresses
the evocative feeling of the particular scene; this is not how
Kinzan exists through time, but rather how it might look at
a particular moment in mist and suffused sunlight.
A very different but equally Japanese sense of transformation
is created by an individualist nanga master of the next
generation, Okada Beisanjin (1744- 1820). His 1813 painting
Old Woman and Ox shows several levels of allusion to Chinese
traditions (Fig, 4). First, the theme of a boy playlng the
flute on an ox or water buffalo had been popular since the
Song dynasty (960-1279) in both China and Japan, representing
the process of Zen enlightenment through the analogy
of oxherding. In the series of paintings called the Zn
Oxherding Pictures, the sixth image, Riding Home on the Ox,
often shows a boy playing the flute on the back of the animal;
the boy and the ox are as one, no longer concerned with gain
or loss. The theme has several variations, but to substitute a
toothless old woman was Beisanjin's own idiosyncratic idea.
Furthermore, he adds a poem to the composition which he
claims is by the celebrated Chinese literati painter Shen Zhou
(1427- 1509), also noting that the painting is in Shen's style.
However, since no paintings or poems by Shen seem to
match this work at all, both these claims appear to be
deliberately misleading, suggesting another aspect of Beisanjin's
sense of humour. -*
The poem itself refers to two great Chinese beauties, both
of whom met a sad fate. Emperor Minghuang's beloved
concubine Yang Guifei had to be executed in an attempt to
preserve his rule, while at another time Wang Zhaojun was
sent off to be married to a Mongol leader as a form of tribute.

(Fig. 6) Clouds Shield the Layered Cliffs
By Uragami Gyokudo (1 745-1 820)
Ink on silk
Height 17.2 cm, width 24 cm
The blood of the lovely concubine dripped on Ma-Wei Slope;
Zhao-jun, full of resentment, was sent across the border.
How can they compare with this old hag,
firmly seated on the back of an ox,
singing a song of peace
(Translated by Jonathan Chaves)
The old woman faces us directly, her rather comical expression
adding to the poetic idea that beauty may be less a
blessing than a danger. Underneath the humour, Beisanjin is
sending a message that underlies much of nanga: look more
deeply than merely for surface attractiveness. There is another
kind of beauty that appears and grows over time, and
that can be appreciated fully and serenely as the years pass.
Taiga's wife Gyokuran (1727-84), in contrast, was a fine
poet in the Japanese classical five-line waha tradition, and
her painting Akashi Bay is an example of how calligraphy
and painting can be fully united over equal portions of the
fan surface (Fig. 5). Her waha alludes to two much earlier
court verses, but is less explicit about the emotions of the
poet:
(Fig. 7) Crossing the River
By Aoki Mokubei (1 767-1 833)
Ink and colour on paper
Height 50.8 cm, width 9.7 cm
Dawn is arising
faintly at Akashi Bay -
as a boat disappears
behind the islands, I feel
the traveller's lonely heart
This autumn evening
over the waves at Akashi Bay
the moon is hanging -
have I ever seen it
just like this before
On Akashi Bay
this evening's moon
is glittering brightly -
boats far out at sea
are rowing away
Masatsune
Gy o kuvan
(Fig. 8a) Detail of the
painting in Figure 8 showing
Rinkoku's self-portrait seal
(Fig. 8) Hunting in Sendai
By Hosokawa Rinkoku !
(1780-1842)
Hanging scroll, ink
and colour on paper
Height 136 cm, width 28.5 cm
Here Gyokuran demonstrates her personal style not only in
the waha, but also in her subtle tones of inkupon mica paper,
which are especially evident in the rows of umbrella-shaped
trees that recede into the distance. She 'uses the style of
horizontal 'Mi dots', named after the celebrated literatus Mi
Fu (1051-1107), but the poem is much more visually integrated
into the total composition than in most Chinese
works.

(Fig. 9) Three Friends of Winter
By Yamamoto Baiitsu (1 783-1 856)
Pair of six-panel screens, ink and colour on paper
Each screen: height 154.6 cm, length 360.8 cm
Although the moon in Gyokuran's poem is not directly
depicted, the character for 'moon' is placed in the centre of
the composition (beginning the third column of calligraphy
from the right), suggesting a form of painting through calligraphy
that is enhanced by the knowledge that this character
was originally a pictograph of the crescent moon. In
works such as this, Gyokuran creates a new form of nanga
by combining the literati painting tradition with classical
Japanese poetry.
Many other literati masters excelled at calligraphy and
poetry, and a few also added expertise in other arts. Uragami
GyokudG (1 745- 1820) was a consummate musician on the
seven-string kin (Ch. qin), a low-voiced and meditative
instrument played as a means of self-cultivation, or for the
quiet enjoyment of a close friend. The music that Gyokudg
composed features a great range of subtle touches on the
strings, and the same spirit can be seen in his landscape
Clouds Shield the Layered Clgs (Fig. 6). Although many of
the brushstrokes recur, such as the dots, semicircles, and
dash-like horizontal strokes, each has a different touch,
creating a unique, asymmetrical sense of rhythm. A sage
pauses on a bridge, almost overwhelmed by the vigorous
overlay of brushstrokes and ink tones around him, and the
whole painting, although small in size, vibrates with nature's
energy. With its surging rhythm of brushstrokes and tones
of ink, and inscribed with Gyokudo's title and a poetic
inscription by his friend Totoki Baigai (1 749-1804), this
work indeed represents a confluence of the arts. Curiously,
Baigai wrote only three lines of a quatrain by Su Shi (1036-
1101) (the omitted line is given in brackets):
Beyond the bamboo and two or three sprigs of peach blossoms,
[The ducks are the first to know the spring river has become
warm.]
Artemesia covers the ground and short reeds sprout forth,
This is the time when the blowfish appears.
oki Mokubei (1767-1833) practised another form of
A creativity, becoming one of the leading potters of his
time through exploring various Chinese as well as Japanese
ceramic styles. He also painted in the literati spirit as an
avocation, and his landscapes show a corresponding freedom
of approach, even in the relatively small format of the tan-
ZU~U poem-card (Fig. 7). A man carrying firewood appears
from behind a cliff along a dangerous zigzag path, depicted
in dry brushwork that is alive with spontaneous force. Although
harmonized with light colours, the work seems to
have been dashed off without care for proper strokes of the
brush; instead Mokubei has followed a Japanese aesthetic by
capturing the intensity of a single moment in the mountains.
An equal freedom in composition and brushwork is
evident in the works of the poet calligrapher-painter Hosokawa
Rinkoku (1780-1842), whose most celebrated accomplishment
was the seal-carving he did not only for himself
but also for many artistic friends as he travelled through
Japan. Although most nanga masters painted idealized Chinese
landscapes, Rinkoku depicted a number of actual scenes
that he encountered during his travels, including a delightful
scroll, Hunting in Sendai (Fig. 8). Spectators watch hunters
funnelling boars and deer into a mountain pass where they
can be caught. The use of diagonals gives the painting a sense
of movement, while touches of colour bring forth the figures
who watch or participate. Rinkoku completes the scroll with
a poem, 'Watching the Hunt in Sendai':

A single voice pierces the mountains, telling the leaders
to prepare -
Thousands of heroic feelings rise up in people's hearts.
As I hold my jade-cutting sword,
Suddenly from peaks and forests, the boars appear!
To add to our enjoyment of this poem-painting-calligraphy,
if we look closely we can see that one of Rinkoku's seals is a
self-portrait of the artist actually carving his name in stone
(Fig. 8a).
In contrast to amateur nanga painters such as Mokubei
and Rinkoku, Nakabayashi ChikutG (1776-1853) and his
friend Yamamo to Baiitsu (1 783- 1856) were professionals
who earned their living from painting. They both excelled
in landscapes, following specific Chinese literati styles while
adding their own refined brushwork, and Baiitsu in particular
was also a master of bird-and-flower painting. His screens
of the Three Friends of Winter (pine, plum and bamboo)
demonstrate the absolute mastery that he achieved in painting
technique, as well as his strong sense of pictorial composition
(Fig. 9). The pine stretches over the right-hand
screen in a horizontal movement echoed by the rushing
stream below it, while rocks and bamboo add a visual anchor
to the scene. On the left, a blossoming plum tree bends and
circles to reach out to all four corners of the screen, as though
to embrace the first traces of the coming of spring that this
flower symbolizes. The artist's name, 'Baiitsu' ('Plum Leisure')
was given him because of his love of plum-blossom
paintings by Wang Mian (1335-1407), but the transformation
of this theme into a full screen composition shows
Baiitsu's ability in adapting a Chinese tradition to Japanese
sensibilities.
Chikut6, also a highly skilled painter, made a further
impact as a theorist who wrote a number of books about
literati painting, emphasizing the importance of following
the proper Chinese traditions. I11 his Landscape with Man
Seated by a Stream of 1829, ChikutG notes that he is painting
in the style of the Yuan dynasty master Huang Gongwang
(1269-1364), but as James Cahill has pointed out, this is
Huang's style as interpreted by the Ming dynasty painter Lan
Ying (1585-after 1664), and then once again transformed by
ChikutC (Fig. 10). Where Huang had overlapped brushstrokes
to create textured forms, Lan Ying evolved these into
rectangular and square shapes to form mountains and rocks.
ChikutC thereupon took the style in new directions by
creating ambiguous perspectives in which we cannot always
be sure which rock is closer or further away. As a result, the
viewer is moved in and out of the composition in a kind of
visual oscillation quite unlike the more direct movement in
verticals or diagonals of most landscapes. This kind of freedom
in the use of space and perspective is a feature that often
occurs in many nanga transformations of Chinese prototypes.
T
here are many ways in which nanga can be viewed and
understood. It can be studied historically and styristically,
but also by region. Taiga, Beisanjin and Gyokuran lived
in the Kyoto-Osaka area, ChikutE and Baiitsu came from
Nagoya, and there was also an important group of literati in
the new capital of Edo (now Tokyo) who created their own
nanga world. The Edo artists tended to be more eclectic than
the Kyoto or Nagoya painters; the most celebrated of them,
Tani Bunch5 (1763-1841), painted almost every possible
subject and mastered a number of different styles.
Bunch& Two Chinese Scholars demonstrates his skill in
figure painting, a secondary but nonetheless important
theme in literati painting (Fig. 11). The broad style of the

ocks behind the figures, however, is closer to that of the
Chinese 'Zhe School' of professional painters than literati
prototypes, a fact that doubtless would not have bothered
Bunch; at all. Japanese artists were not subject to the 'rules'
of Chinese theoreticians, and as a result they were free to
join together any Chinese (or Japanese) styles that they
chose.
This sense of freedom is even more apparent in the
1862 painting Sixteen Rahan by the Kyoto artist Hine
Taizan (1814-69) (Fig. 12). This can be considered a
Buddhist painting, due to its theme of enlightened immortals,
but it is also nanga since Taizan was one of the leading
literati masters of his time. Instead of using the delicate
and refined brushwork that defines Bunch& Chinese
Scholars, Taizan paints with wild abandon. No longer
caring about worldly matters, the vahan (Skt arhats) float,
stroll and scamper though clouds and water; one sends
forth a dragon, another rides a tiger; all are brimming with
life-force. It is sometimes thought that the most significant
feature of literati painting is exemplary brushwork, but
here Taizan combines his bold and dramatic sweeps of the
brush with an intensely dramatic composition, and is not
afraid to let humour play a part in the total effect.
Figure painting was not the only secondary theme in
nanga. Tsubaki Chinzan (1801-54) was a literati artist in
Edo who studied at one time with Bunchc; although adept
at many subjects, his specialty was bird-and-flower themes
painted in the so-called 'boneless' technique. This involved
using ink and colour washes to create forms without the
use of outlines. As can be seen in Chinzan's Herons in Snow,
the boneless technique offers a soft and naturalistic feeling
which can be very appealing (Fig. 13). The sense of wet
mist that envelops the herons perching on a partially dead
branch is enhanced by the twisting reeds covered with
snow, indicated by leaving portions of the silk blank. The
lack of a ground plane or background seems to present this
scene as if it were floating in space. Like Taiga's Kinzan
Island, Chinzan's portrayal of space, season, weather and a
particular moment is vital to the transformation of nanga
(Fig. 10) Landscape with Man Seated by a Stream
By Nakabayashi Chikut6 (1776-1 853), 1829
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
Height 154 cm, width 70.4 cm
(Fig. 11) Two Chinese Scholars
By Tani Bunch5 (1 763-1 841)
Ink and colour on paper
Height 19.9 cm, width 29 cm

(Fig. 12) Sixteen Rakan
By Hine Taizan (1 81 4-69)
Hanging scroll, ink and colour on satin
Height 121.8 cm, width 49.9 cm
from a Chinese artform to a thoroughly Japanese aesthetic
experience.
One final example demonstrates the significant differences
between Chinese and Japanese literati painting. Ki
Baitei (1734-1810), a follower of the haiku poet and nanga
master Yosa Buson (1716-84), lived in Shiga prefecture near
Kyoto, where he painted in a style that featured rough and
energetic brushwork. His painting of a waterfall is inscribed
as 'after the brush idea of Ma Yuan', but at first glance this
imposing scene has little to do with the delicate mist-filled
compositions of the Song dynasty artist (Fig. 14). Active in
the early 13th century, this court painter was nicknamed
'one-corner Ma' because he often left half his compositions
(Fig. 13) Herons in Snow
By Tsubaki Chinzan (1801-54)
Ink and colour on silk
Height 121.8 cm, width 49.9 cm

empty on a diagonal. Baitei's scroll, by contrast, is full of the major schools of later Japanese painting, nanga has been
roiling rock and mountain forms, rendered in anything but the least studied and understood outside of Japan' (Scholardelicate
brushwork. There is nothing of Ma Yuan's typical Painters ofJapan: The Nanga School, New York, 1972, p. 9).
diagonal composition, graceful willow or plum tree, or It was at this time, however, that some American scholars,
scholar-sage enjoying the evocative vibrations of nature. collectors and institutions were becoming seriously inter-
Baitei's inscription is a puzzle. Perhaps he had in mind ested in nanga, and several fine collections have been assemsome
waterfall painting by Ma Yuan, with its restrained bled since then. Western taste in Japanese literati painting,
poetic mood, but here the waterfall is rendered in slashing however, has shown some differences from that of Japanese
zigzags of white against heavy black strokes,
collectors, with a preference for dramatic comgrey
wash and lustrous dots. Or was Baitei
thinking of Ma's use of mist This scroll does
include a curving band of mist, but it does not
resemble the subtle tonal effects of the Chinese
artist. Might it be the single tree near the
top of the composition But Ma's trees were
placed firmly in the foreground, quite unlike
this small form that seems barely able to cling
to life amid the powerful forms around it.
Did Baitei simply misunderstand the artistic
legacy of the Chinese painter Or was he
free to transform the themes of waterfall, mist
and a single tree into something entirely his
own, with a dramatic urgency that owes little
to his Chinese model As viewers of such
Japanese literati paintings, we have the choice
of being disappointed that they are not closer
to Chinese taste, or we can be delighted that
this form of traditional East Asian art has
become imbued with an aesthetic that reflects
the values of a different culture.
Whether viewed by subject-matter, stylispositions
and bold brushwork on this side of
the ocean while more serene and subtle works
are especially prized in Japan.
The Lee Institute at the Clark Center has
now become an important institution for the
study of Japanese literati painting. It contains
not only an extensive group of more than 400
nanga artworks, but also a unique collection of
research materials, including many hundreds
of books and journals, 12,000 seal and signature
photos, and more than 22,000 slides of
nanga. This article discusses only a small portion
of the works at the Lee Institute, which
demonstrate the visual, poetic and intellectual
delight that literati painting and calligraphy
can offer to all those who enter its artistic
world. As Western viewers become more aware
of the wide-ranging resonance of nanga, they
can participate in an experience in which depth
of feeling is continually enhanced through an
understanding of the transformations from one
major artistic tradition to another culture.
tically, historically or geographically, nanga
has great variety. It was created by artists who
Stephen Addiss is Professor of Art and Tucker-Boatexpressed
their experience of nature through
wright Professor in the Humanities at the University of
Richmond, Virginia.
brushwork based upon Chinese styles but reflecting
their own individual characters and
personalities. Yet Japanese literati painting did
Unless otherwise stated, translations are by the author.
not make an impact upon the Western world
All paintings illustrated in this article are in the Ruth
until long past the time when Japanese prints,
and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark
as well as paintings of other schools, had
Center, Hanford, California.
become popular. This was in part because
early visitors to Japan preferred what they
Selected bibliography
considered more purely native forms of art,
and also because the kind of rich cultural
Stephen Addiss, yapanese Nanga in the Western
World', in Oriental Art, vol. XXVLII no. 2, 1981, pp.
background that nanga rewards was not yet
172-82.
part of Western consciousness. Indeed, the
-, Tall Mountains and Flowing Waters: The A~ts of
early connoisseur Ernest Fenellosa (1853-
Uragami GyokudZ, Honolulu, 1987.
1908) wrote that 'from any universal point of
-, 'Hosokawa Rinkoku: Seal-carver, Poet, and Literati
view [nanga] is hardly more than an awkward
Painter', in KaikodoJouma~, Spring 1997, pp. 196-212.
joke' (Epochs of Chinese andJapanese Art, New
-, 'Shadows of Emotion: the Calligraphy, Painting,
and Poetry of Gion Nankai', in Kaikodo Journal,
York, 1912, vol. 2, p. 165). Even when the first
Autumn 1998, pp. 9-29.
exhibition of nanga was brought to the United (Fig. 14) Wateflallafter ~a Yuan
By Ki Baitei (1734-1810) Melinda Takeuchi, Taiga5 True Views: The Language of
States sixty years later in 1972, the curator ,, paper
Landscape Painting in Eighteenth-Century Japan, Stan-
James Cahill wrote in his catalogue that 'of all ~ei~ht-137 cm, width 28.5 cm ford, 1992.