“The Master Wuyong Scroll,” Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, 1350, handscroll, ink on paper, 33 x 636.9 cm (National Palace Museum, Taipei)
Bamboo in the Four Seasons, attributed to Tosa Mistunobu, late 15th to early 16th century (Muromachi period), Japan, ink, color and gold leaf on paper, each screen 157 x 360 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The two landscape pieces of art seen above are both made using ink on paper. Although they were created using the same methods, these two pieces are largely different from on another. The first, The Master Wuyong Scroll, was created as a handscroll whereas the second, Bamboo in the Four Seasons, was created initially as decorative sliding doors/walls then was remounted as a folding screen. Although both pieces are landscapes that depict the passage of time, one allows the viewer to look into the journey of the artist whereas the other shows the parallelism with Japanese poetry at the time.
The first images shows The Master Wuyong Scroll painted by Huang Gongwang. In this painting the artist depicts a Chinese landscape as he had viewed it with the passage of time from the start to the completion of the painting. For this painting, Gongwang used brush and ink which in Chinese art expressed the artist's spirit and temperament while painting. The significance of handscrolls is that their size and manner of being viewed is meant to take the viewer on a slow discovery creating an intimate physical movement. Handscrolls are to be viewed in a very specific way, this specificity is what allows the artist to create this feeling of time passing as the viewer exposes more of the scroll. These scrolls were meant to be viewed section by section, as if the viewer is looking at many different pieces of art individually that then come together to create one whole image inside the viewers mind once all sections have been viewed. This style of viewing leaves a large margin for differentiation in interpretations of this piece. This allows every viewer to interpret this piece in their own way based on how they view the piece.
The second image is Bamboo in the Four Seasons, which was not signed by the original artist, but was later attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki. This painting depicts a Japanese landscape, but instead of showing the authors perspective as time passed, the artist is depicting the stages of growth of bamboo with the passing seasons. This painting shows us all four seasons going from spring on the right side, to summer, next to autumn, and lastly to winter on the far left side. In this piece the artist was very in tune with Japanese poetry of the time. Many of the aspects found in the piece parallel themes and styles seen in Japanese poetry. This painting was meant to be seen by individuals that would be well versed in the poetry of the time, individuals that would understand the relationship between this piece and Japanese poetry. This artist showed a particular sensitivity to the changes seen between seasons (spring to summer, autumn to winter). The artist was able to also parallel the cyclical nature of human life by depicting a similar cyclical nature in the life of bamboo.
With these two paintings we see moments of resemblance yet we also see contrast. Both images are long and meant to be viewed in segments. Both pieces are meant to be viewed from right to left. Both pieces show the passage of time. At the same time each piece of art depicts largely different meanings. Both pieces allow room for various interpretations frm the readers. The Master Wuyong Scroll takes the viewer on a journey as the artist would have in creating the piece and Bamboo in the Four Seasons takes the viewer on a poetic journey through the life of a bamboo shoot.
Sources:
Hung Sheng, "Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains," in Smarthistory, November 28, 2015, accessed February 13, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/huang-gongwang-dwelling-in-the-fuchun-mountains/
Dr. Sonia Coman and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Bamboo in the Four Seasons: painting and poetry in Japan," in Smarthistory, March 16, 2018, accessed February 13, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/tosa-mistunobu/.
With all criticism given, I like your post a lot. You started off strong introducing both pieces and I feel like with other peoples' posts that I've read, they struggle with that. One thing that stood out to me was that you mentioned that they were made with using the same material but came out with different outcomes. Artists each have their own styles and different creative aspects can make the result of these outcomes.
ReplyDeleteHi Brance! Your post is incredibly insightful in comparing both pieces. One can notice that the “Huang Gongwong, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” shows the artist’s temperament more than the “Bamboo in the Four Seasons”. Great post!
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