Suzuki KIITSU

(Japan 1796–1858)

Title

Birds and flowers

Place of origin

Japan

Period

Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan

Year

circa 1855

Media category

Painting

Materials used

hanging scroll; colour on silk

Dimensions

127.0 x 55.4cm image; 194.0 x 70.0 x 75.4cm scroll [height x width x rod]

Signature & date

Signed l.r., in Japanese, ink [inscribed] "Seisei Kiitsu" [and artist's seal]. Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1983

Accession number

205.1983

Location

Not on display

Further information

In this painting flowers of all seasons such as wisteria (spring), poppies (summer), bush clover and bellflower (autumn) are combined as if to celebrate a timeless world of flowers. Yet one cannot miss the loss of petals on the poppy which holds the centre of the painting - an unmistakable sign of impermanence. It is this awareness, subtly expressed in works of art, that resonates in the mind of the cultivated Japanese. Kiitsu, a later Rinpa school artist, has used a characteristic Rinpa technique of dropping colour onto another while still wet to create a suffused effect, known as 'tarashikomi'.

The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.232.

Bibliography (4)

Edmund Capon and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'Asian Art', pg. 106-113, Sydney, 1984, 112 (colour illus.).

Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 'Edo Painting Schools', Domain, 2003, 232-233 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 233 is a detail of this work.

Jill Sykes (Editor), Look Mar 2002, 'How Asian artists depict nature', pg. 29, Newtown, Mar 2002, 29 (colour illus.).

Khanh Trinh (Editor), Kamisaka Sekka: dawn of modern Japanese design 2012, Sydney, 2012, 55 (colour illus.). cat.no. 23

Exhibition history (1)

Kamisaka Sekka - Dawn of modern Japanese design, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 Jun 2012–26 Aug 2012