Itō Jakuchū

A very common theme among his work is birds, in particular hens and roosters, though several of his more famous paintings depict cranes, cockatoos, parrots, and phoenixes.

One of his most ambitious endeavors, and therefore most famous works, is known as the "Pictures of the Colorful Realm of Living Beings" (動植綵絵, Dōshoku sai-e). Begun around 1757 and not finished until 1765, the Pictures are a set of thirty hanging scrolls created as a personal offering to the Shōkoku-ji temple. In his deed of the gift, Jakuchu notes "in the hope that they will always be utilized as objects of solemn reference." They depict a number of animal subjects in monumental scale and with an according degree of detail. The paintings are composed using different colored pigments on silk. Today, Dōshoku sai-e is owned by the Museum of the Imperial Collections. Most of Itō Jakuchū's recovered paintings were ink on a hanging scroll, byōbu (屏風, folding screens), or fusuma (襖, sliding doors) panels. However, later in his career, Itō Jakuchū would go on to enjoy painting on handscrolls.[10]

• From Doshoku Sai-e (Realm of Living Beings, National Treasure)
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  Old Pine Tree and White Phoenix
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  Golden Pheasants in Snow
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  Fowls
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  Roses and Small Bird
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  Wild Goose and Reeds

Another of his famous pieces, dubbed Chōjū kaboku-zu byōbu (鳥獣花木図屏風, Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden), is arguably one of the most modern-looking pieces to come out of Japan during this period. The piece, one of a pair of sixfold screens, depicts a white elephant and a number of other animals in a garden. What makes it unique, eccentric and modern is the division of the entire piece into a grid of squares (or, in modern terms, the painting is "pixelated") roughly a centimeter on each side. Each square was colored individually, in order to create the resulting aggregate image. Today, Chōjūkaboku-zu byōbu is owned by the Idemitsu Museum of Arts.[11]

The Juka chōjū-zu byōbu (樹花鳥獣図屏風, Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden) owned by the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art is a work that, like the Chōjū kaboku-zu byōbu, depicts animals painted in many small squares. The production method involves first drawing lines at approximately 1 cm intervals with light sumi ink to create a grid across the entire screen. On top of that, a very light color that matches the design is thinly painted to create the base. Next, each square of the grid is filled in with a slightly darker color than before, forming a square shape. A darker color is added in small amounts to the corners of each square, completing one square of the grid. This technique, called masume gaki (枡目描き), was invented by Jakuchū, and only three works, including the Hakuzo Gunju-zu (白象群獣図, White Elephant and Animals), exist using this technique.[12]

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  Juka Choju-zu Byobu (樹花鳥獣図屏風, Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden (left panel))
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  Juka Choju-zu Byobu (樹花鳥獣図屏風, Birds and Animals in the Flower Garden (right panel))

This large work, the last phase of Jakuchū's painting career, painted when he was eighty years old, was discovered in an old house in the Hokuriku region in 2008 and attracted much attention in Japan. It is owned by the Miho Museum. Although elephants do not live in Japan, in 1728 two elephants were brought from Vietnam to Nagasaki to be shown to Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, and they were paraded around Edo and Kyoto, which was a great hit with many Japanese at the time. According to Nobuo Tsuji, an authority on Jakuchū who authenticated this work as a genuine work by Jakuchū, it is possible that Jakuchū saw the elephants in Kyoto when he was fourteen years old. It is also possible that he saw the whale either in Kishū, where whaling was popular, or in Osaka, where whales were exhibited at fairs. Tsuji speculated that a wealthy merchant may have commissioned this work from Jakuchū in order to show it to a large crowds, since it was common for wealthy merchants to show (byōbu) to large crowds during the Gion Festival, and eccentric designs such as this one were especially popular for this purpose. Another work similar to this one, with an elephant and a whale, was once sold at auction during the Showa era (1926-1989), but is now missing.[13][14]

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  Zo to Kujira-zu byōbu (象と鯨図屏風, Elephant and Whale (left panel))
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  Zo to Kujira-zu byōbu (right panel)

Notable example of Jakuchū's emakimono (handscrolls) is his work "Compendium of Vegetables and Insects" (Saichufu). The 40-foot scroll is a painting of almost ninety different fruits and vegetables, fifty-some varieties of insects, and other animals. Some of which include: plums, peaches, apples, winter melon, daikon radish, onions, carrots, frogs, salamanders, butterflies, dragonflies, and bumblebees. The painting utilizes pigments and inks on silk with a grey scaled background. The painting is almost muted in color save for the bright oranges, yellows, and reds, and greens in the fruits and vegetables. Jakuchū's knowledge of produce from his family's grocer is evident within his scroll and the details in the said fruits and vegetables. The scroll starts with the depiction of the various fruits and vegetables in seasonal order, then moves to insects and animals with a single butterfly linking the two sides. It is speculated that Jakuchū's inspiration was from the significance of vegetables and fruits in Chinese art. The meaning of this painting may be linked to Jakuchū's link with the Buddhist faith which is also significantly present in another work of Jakuchū's, "Vegetable Parinirvana", parinirvana being defined as "nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the death of someone who has attained nirvana during his or her lifetime". Jakuchū's portrays a Buddha's death using vegetables. The Buddha is "played" by a daikon radish surrounded by other mourning vegetables. Eggplants, turnips, and mushrooms are some of the ones included in his painting. The painting is supposed to mimic the typical traditional iconography of nirvana images which includes the eight sal trees (stalks of corn), lotus pedestal (woven basket), Queen Maya (quince fruit), and the orientation of the Buddha where his head is facing left (the daikon's leaves). Jakuchū's choice of the daikon radish as the Buddha has to do with the importance of daikon in Zen culture. Takuan Sōhō, an abbot in the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, was actually credited for his creation of the yellow pickled daikon radish, named after him. Historians remain unsure of the motivations behind Jakuchū's painting, but his choices in the painting prove to be meaningful and assert that the Buddha spirit is present everywhere even in vegetables. Some theorize it is to commemorate the death of his mother others say it is to commemorate the death of his brother.[10]

The Jakuchū gafu (若冲画譜 ; "Album of Jakuchū) is a series of works depicting flowers. The work is always in a circle, such as can be found on ceiling paintings. The originals were poorly preserved, but a number of quality copies of the album were made during the Meiji era of the 1890s.[15][16][17]

• From Jakuchū gafu (Album of Jakuchū)
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Jakuchū can be said to have lived the life of a literary intellectual (bunjin). He was friends with many notable bunjin, went on journeys with them, and was influenced by their artistic styles. His own degree of experimentation was a result of a combination of this bunjin influence and his own personal creative drive. In addition to his experiments with Western materials and perspective, Jakuchū also employed on occasion a method called taku hanga (拓版画, "rubbing prints"). This method used woodblocks to resemble a Chinese technique of ink rubbings of inscribed stone slabs, and was employed by Jakuchū in a number of works, including a scroll entitled "Impromptu Pleasures Afloat" (乗興舟, Jōkyōshū), depicting his and his mentor, Daiten Kenjo's (大典顕常), journey down the Yodo River. The piece is currently residing in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Itō Jakuchū's scroll was created using the technique of taku-hanga which allows the background of the scroll to be black while Daiten Kenjo's texts and the artist's details are presented in greys and whites.[10]

In the spring of 1767, both Daiten and Jakuchū decided to travel to Osaka via boat on the Yodo River, which connects Kyoto and Osaka. The 39-foot scroll, "Impromptu Pleasures Afloat" (乗興舟, Jōkyōshū), commemorates and illustrates the journey. The handscroll is the entire Yodo River from morning to night. The scroll contains short impromptu Chinese poems inscribed by Daiten inspired by the scenery seen on the journey, which mirrors how the river itself transported ideas. Daiten also includes the names of landmarks and other important areas of the Yodo River. Jakuchū seems to borrow stylistic elements and motifs from the "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" (Chinese: 瀟湘八景; pinyin: Xiāoxiāng Bājǐng) like the evening sun, clear skies, white sails, a temple's evening bell, and finishing villages.[10]

Jakuchū also experimented with a number of forms of printing, most of them using woodblocks. But occasionally he would use stencils or other methods to produce different effects. Jakuchū's painting style is influenced by Shen Nanping (Shen Quan c. 1682–1760). His crane subjects prove this, being part of traditional Japanese legacy, but also the neutral background and the ‘cut’ given to the scene composition, with always a careful and detailed flora and fauna decorative style of painting.[18]

Today, his work is held in several museums worldwide, including the Idemitisu Museum of Arts,[11] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,[19] the Miho Museum,[20] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[21] the Harvard Art Museums,[22] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[23] the Indianapolis Museum of Art,[24] the Asian Art Museum,[25] the Yale University Art Gallery,[26] and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.[27]

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  Roosters and Hens (left), Minneapolis Institute of Art
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  Roosters and Hens (right), Minneapolis Institute of Art