"Jakchu Wonderland"
Japanese painting underwent an unprecedented blossoming during the mid-Edo period, in the eighteenth century.During this period, realistic sketches of nature under the guidance of intellectualswere popular. Jakchu also studied and fervently sketched flowers, birds, and animals from life. Although he painted his flora and fauna with meticulous detail, he also created a fantastic wonderland that was separated from reality. In contrast to his elaborate works, Jakchu also produced ink paintings with quick, abbreviated brushstrokes. From his subjective view erupted a wild, uninhibited realm with the innocence of a child’s painting.This exhibition presents the recently discovered pair of six-fold screens Whale and Elephant for the first time in public as well as other Jakchu masterpieces from both domestic and international collections. Also featured will be contemporaneous Kyoto artists, such Ike no Taiga (1723-1776), Yosa Buson (1716-1783), Soga Shohaku (1730-1781), who painted fantastical, large-scale works.