Japan Society: Hasegawa Tōhaku

I went on Friday for the second time to the Japan Society on East 47th Street to see the current exhibit of works, most of them magnificent pairs of folding screens, by Hasegawa Tōhaku, an artist of the Momoyama period.  The exhibit of Japanese art, entitled A Giant Leap: The Transformation of Hasegawa Tōhaku, was only one of several I've viewed in past weeks but was certainly among the most rewarding.

One of the most fascninating aspects of Hasegawa's life was the mystery surrounding his true identity.  Although he was the period's most significant painter following the death of his chief rival Kanō Eitoku, very little was known of his early life.  It was only in 1964 that art historian Tsugiyoshi Doi, then director of the Kyoto National Museum, speculated that Hasegawa might in fact be the same individual as Hasegawa Nobuharu, a much less renowned painter of the same era who specialized in Buddhist iconography.  There were many objections to this hypothesis, however, as there were strong stylistic differences between the two artists.  Most telling was the fact that while Tōhaku was a master at painting on gilded surfaces, an extremely difficult process, there were no known examples by Nobuharu that involved a similar use of this technique.  The "missing link," at least according to documentation provided at the exhibit, is the screen Flowers and Birds of Spring and Summer (ca. 1580) that was only definitively attributed to Nobuharu in 2009.  This dazzling work is the centerpiece of the current exhibit and the basis for its title.

The Momoyama period was one of the most tumultuous in Japanese history as various warlords vied for control of the country; it only ended in 1600 with the decisive Battle of Sekigahara that saw the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate and the beginning of the Edo period.  None of this turmoil, however, is evident in the works of Hasegawa.  His works instead are almost entirely devoted to scenes of nature.  Indeed, his forte may be his highly stylized treatment of trees.  This is readily apparent in the first work one encounters upon entering the exhibit, Pine Grove (c. 1595).  Like the majority of works on view, Pine Grove consists of a pair of six-panel folding screens that when placed end to end extend over twenty feet in length.  The large monochromatic screens take up the entire length of a gallery and are absolutely mesmerizing.  The subject itself couldn't be simpler - a stand of pine trees partially enshrouded in fog.  So artfully has the screen been painted that as one sits and contemplates the ghostly scene it seems to the viewer that trees previously hidden by the mist gradually make themselves apparent.  It's an astonishing illusion.  One of the Society's guides explained to me that the work had been completed shortly after the death of the artist's son.  One can sense the intense emotion behind this tranquil scene as one's eyes strain to penetrate the fog and see the hidden world beyond it.

Another monochromatic work depicts Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers.  The work clearly shows Chinese influences, most especially in the stylization of the mountains at the extreme left of the screen.  As in other works, large portions of the scene have not been painted in but rather left blank to suggest to the viewer a mist covered landscape.  This technique that can be traced back at least as far as Ma Yuan's "one-corner school" of painting in the Southern Song dyansty and is a distinguishing characteristic of Asian painting; it presents a contrast to Western styles in which every inch of the canvas is meticulously painted over in detail.

Herons on Willow, Crows on Pine is yet another example of Hasegawa's monochromatic technique.  At the far left of one set of screens a pair of white herons perch gracefully on willow branches while on the far right of the accompanying set of screens a pair of black crows are shown on the branches of the pine.  The contrast between the birds' coloring and character creates an exceptionally balanced composition.

Also in monochrome are the set of folding screens comprising Cranes and Bamboo.  As soon as I saw this work I recognized the crane on the left hand panel.  It's an almost exact duplicate of the left hand panel of the Kuan Yin triptych by the Chinese artist Mu'chi (Mokkei), one of the finest painters of the Southern Song dynasty.  The documentation accompanying the exhibit suggests that Hasegawa had access to Mu'chi's painting; that certainly seems likely considering the similarity in iconography.  I've always had the highest regard for the Kuan Yin triptych ever since having seen a reproduction many years ago in D.T. Suzuki's Zen and Japanese Culture and it was deeply moving to see that it had also served as a source of inspiration for so great an artist as Hasegawa.

In another gallery were the screens comprising Willows in Four Seasons, a subtly colored study of the trees viewed from summer on the right to winter on the left.  This is an extremley understated work and yet I could not help but feel I was seeing a panorama of the seasons spread out before me.

The pieces I most enjoyed viewing at the exhibit were the brightly colored screens of Willow Bridge wherein a golden bridge surrounded by willows and with a water wheel at one end extends over the Uji River in Kyoto.  This was a favorite subject of Momoyama artists.  Here the twisting trunks of the willows, almost black against the bright gold background, become design elements that snake through the composition and offset the regularly curved diagonal formed by the bridge itself.  The bridge was a famous scenic spot in Kyoto as early as the eighth century when it was first described in the poetry of the Man'yōshū ("Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves"), and its depiction here irresistably brings to mind the world of Genji monogatari during the Heian period.

The exhibit is being shown in two rotations.  The first ended on April 8th while the second continues through May 6, 2018.  Some of the works described above were shown in the first rotation and have since been returned to Japan where they are considered National Treasures.