Minneapolis Institute of Art

Landscape in the Manner of Ni Zan

Yamamoto Baiitsu

Date

1836

Medium

Fan, ink on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Copying old paintings and emulating ancient masters is a practice seen frequently in works by Japanese literati painters. One of the leading painters of his day, Yamamoto Baiitsu turned for inspiration to Ni Zan, a Chinese painter who lived 500 years earlier. Ni Zan was known for his distinctively sparse landscapes, which he created using sketchy brushwork and a relatively dry brush. His compositions often feature a foreground of lanky trees separated from far-distant mountains by a wide expanse of undefined water. Baiitsu skillfully adapted Ni Zan’s compositional formula to the folding-fan format by placing the foreground slightly left of center and then creating two separate mountain vistas, one at far left and the other at right. Asia

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