.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The tradition of landscape painting, developed simultaneously across numerous generations and countries by independent invention, reveals various perspectives and spiritual and emotional inspiration. Ryozo Kato is fascinated by the Chinese ink landscape painting tradition of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), in which scenes in scrolled formats are rendered with finely executed strokes categorised as fuhekishun (axe-cut stroke) and himashun (fibre texture stroke). Ryozo Kato applies comparable characteristics in painting his landscapes, drawing the eye vertically through the foliage or horizontally through the mountain ranges, inviting the viewer to visually tread along the meandering path. By employing delicate brushwork over a softly colour-washed paper, Kato forms a romantic vision of dense foliage that seemingly provides shelter for the hermetic literati scholars who similarly practised this style of painting.
Kato depicted the glorious morning landscape by using the soft yellowish-brown pigment. The dramatic scenery reminiscent of those 17th Century Baroque Masters's poetic delineation. Though unexplored wilderness may present unexpected encounters with animals and strangers, Kato's paintings negate fears and tribulations of the extreme wild and instead invite the viewer into his calm and meditative surroundings.
Kato depicted the glorious morning landscape by using the soft yellowish-brown pigment. The dramatic scenery reminiscent of those 17th Century Baroque Masters's poetic delineation. Though unexplored wilderness may present unexpected encounters with animals and strangers, Kato's paintings negate fears and tribulations of the extreme wild and instead invite the viewer into his calm and meditative surroundings.