Museum Collection Exhibition
The Aesthetics of Summer and Autumn
Masterpieces by Suzuki Kiitsu and the Inen Seal Painter- Saturday, September 14 – Sunday, October 20, 2024
| Closed | Mondays, except September 16 and 23 and October 14 (closed the following Tuesdays) |
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| Hours | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.（last entry: 4:30 p.m.） |
| General admission (On-line timed-entry tickets) | Adult 1300 yen, Student 1000 yen |
| Gallery | 1/2 |
The Heian-period Kokin Wakashū Poetry Anthology (compiled in 905) contains far more poems related to spring and autumn than to summer and winter. As that difference demonstrates, spring and autumn have long been favorite seasons in Japan. This bias in favor of spring and autumn can also be seen in art, notably in the number of works that depict cherry blossoms and autumn foliage in those seasons.
While this tradition was carried on, in Edo-period art, the combination of summer and autumn, instead of spring and autumn, is also striking. That change doubtless reflects a fondness for the charms of summer. Depicting vigorous summer and waning autumn as a sequence, and thus being able to define clearly the change in the seasons, also contributed to that shift in seasonal pairings.
The highlights of this exhibition are masterpieces by Suzuki Kiitsu, the Edo Rimpa School prodigy, and the studio of the Rimpa School founder Tawaraya Sōtatsu. Through this exhibition, we hope you will enjoy the shifting moods of the seasons, from early summer to late fall, while exploring various aspects of the aesthetic sensibilities they express.
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Flowers of Summer and Autumn
Inen seal - Pair of six-panel screens; ink and color on paper
- Japan Edo period, 17th century
Nezu Museum - Sumi ink is used extensively in these depictions of summer and autumn plants, connected by mist and the ground to convey a gentle rhythm. The golden-rayed and trumpet lilies, blooming in profusion in the summer scene, have not been seen in earlier works and generate a sense of freshness . This work appears to be associated with Kitagawa Sōsetsu (n.d.), the second-generation successor to Tawaraya Sōtatsu.
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Mountain Streams in Summer and Autumn
By Suzuki Kiitsu - Pair of six-panel screens; ink and color on gold-foiled paper
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Japan Edo period, 19th century
Nezu Museum - A stream flows through a hinoki, Japanese cypress, forest. The right-hand screen presents summer, with white golden-rayed lilies; cherry leaves turning red signal autumn on the left-hand screen. From left to right, the green ground has a delicate quality, with subtle differences in its shades. Other eccentric touches include the rather viscous rendering of the stream and, in the right-hand screen, the cicadas facing sideways and clinging to the cypress trees. These folding screens are the signature work of Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858).
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Summer Flowers
By Ogata Kōrin - Pair of two-panel screens; ink and color on gold-foiled paper
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Japan Edo period, 18th century
Nezu Museum - Nearly thirty varieties of plants that bloom from late spring through summer spill across a pair of two-panel screens, arrayed along what seems to be a single line slopping from lower left to upper right. In the center of the composition are the white and red hollyhocks that Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) adored. It has been noted, however, that many of the other flower s also appear in the botanical sketches by Konoe Iehiro, an aristocrat and leading intellectual of his time.
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Boating and Autumn Foliage Viewing
By Sumiyoshi Hirosada - Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
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Japan Edo period, 19th century
Nezu Museum - In the scroll on the right we see noble ladies escaping the summer’s heat by boating. In the scroll on the left, male aristocrats are picking autumn leaves. We also note the contrast between the vast garden with its lake on the right and the waterfall on the left. The painter was Sumiyoshi Hirokata (1793–1863), the seventh generation head of the Sumiyoshi school of Yamato-e painting.