Scholars Conversing in the Mountains

Description

Taiga began his career as a self-taught artisan in a fan shop, and at his death was one of the most celebrated painters and calligraphers of his day. A large number of his works from the 1740s to the 1770s survive, and Scholars Conversing in the Mountains represents his mature style working in a literati or bunjin, manner. This style had been pioneered in the early eighteenth century and culminated with masters such as Taiga and Yosa Buson (1716–1783). Conversant in Chinese literati painting, Taiga sought to style himself as a cultivated man in the Chinese manner, practicing poetry, tea ceremonies, painting, and antiquarianism. An eccentric in his behavior, he emphasized in his art individual expression through calligraphic brush lines and ink washes. Seeking out Ming and Qing dynasty Chinese models, including model books and woodblock prints, he developed a unique personal style that drew on varied sources ranging from native Muromachi period (15th–16th centuries) painting styles to Western modes of visual representation.

In this nearly monochromatic painting, four men sit in a mountain clearing under an overhanging pine branch. A fifth figure with an attendant ascends through a cleft in the boulders to the left. Expressive ink lines describe the heavy contours of the tree trunks and mountain forms, while pale pink and blue washes suffuse the landscape scene.