White Herons in Rain

雨に白鷺図屏風

1910s

Fujii Setsuden 藤井雪田

(Japanese)

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Culture

Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taishō period (1912–26)

Medium

Pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on silk

Measurements

Panel: 169 x 372 cm (66 9/16 x 146 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund 2015.64

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

A Kyoto-based artist, Setsuden was awarded a medal at the sixth Ministry of Education Exhibition (Bunten) in 1912 for a two-panel folding screen also featuring the theme of birds in rain.

Description

In this composition, Fujii Setsuden used a color palette that borrows from Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, European art movements of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The pair of screens is an example of nihonga, or “[modern] Japanese painting.” The terms nihonga, which indicates works in ink and mineral pigments, and yōga, or “Western-style [oil] painting,” were developed in response to the rapid influx of information about European painting and culture that became available to artists in Japan from the mid-1800s. One goal of nihonga was to reinterpret Japanese styles and formats to correct for a perceived lack of relevance to modern sensibilities.