.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in Shimane Prefecture, Tanaka Raisho studied painting under Mori Kansai. In 1902 he moved to Tokyo to study under Kawabata Gyokusho. His work won a number of awards in the Nihon Bijutsu Kyokai Exhibitions (Japan Art Association). Raisho served as a juror for the Tatsumi Gakai, a counselor for the Nihongakai, and an instructor at the Kawabata Painting School (Kawabata Gagakko). He won third prize at the 1907 Tokyo Kangyo Hakurankai (Tokyo Industrial Exhibition), and the same year, on the occasion of the Bunten’s establishment, he participated as Secretary in the formation of the Seiha Doshikai. By this time he was already a major figure in Tokyo painting circles. His first submission to the Bunten came the following year in 1908, when he took a third place prize. He also exhibited works in 1909, and in 1912 - 1914, winning third place prizes for each. In 1915 his Bunten painting took second place, and in 1916 and 1917 he took the highest honors successively. He was thus astonishingly active in the field of landscape painting, his specialty.
With the initiation of the Teiten, Raisho became a nominated artist (1919) and a committee member of the Teiten in 1924. He had a piece accepted to the first Shotoku Taishi Hosan Exhibition in 1926, and in 1935 participated in the Dai Ichibukai in the Teiten Reorganization (Teiten Kaiso). After the Great Kanto earthquake he moved to Hiroshima, where he died in 1940 at the age of 71.
With Deep Ravine Waterfall, Tanaka Raisho centers the summer composition on three Chinese sages conversing with fishermen in boats. Behind them the falls cascade into mist, gilded with sunlight. A warm shaft of light illuminates the figures on the bridge and glances across those on the water, where a literatus and his servant make sencha tea in the background. Delicate ferns, grasses, flowering vines and lichens cover the finely shaded rock walls. Raisho carefully details the bamboo mats, rattan creels and hats, the graceful folds of the pastel clothing, even the scales on the proffered fish. Lapis blue edges the shadowed crevices and tints the river. Malachite tinted leaves hang above the cliffs, balanced by the shadowed greens on the rocks below. The painting glows with a refined optimism, and represents the flowering of the sencha tradition in the early decades of the 20th century.
Originally this painting was paired with another depicting larger falls cascading into mists. Rather than form a continuous scene these two paintings echoed each other, the left painting viewing distant falls devoid of human references while the right focused on an individual scale. A black and white image of the pair together in the Nittenshi is referenced above.
With the initiation of the Teiten, Raisho became a nominated artist (1919) and a committee member of the Teiten in 1924. He had a piece accepted to the first Shotoku Taishi Hosan Exhibition in 1926, and in 1935 participated in the Dai Ichibukai in the Teiten Reorganization (Teiten Kaiso). After the Great Kanto earthquake he moved to Hiroshima, where he died in 1940 at the age of 71.
With Deep Ravine Waterfall, Tanaka Raisho centers the summer composition on three Chinese sages conversing with fishermen in boats. Behind them the falls cascade into mist, gilded with sunlight. A warm shaft of light illuminates the figures on the bridge and glances across those on the water, where a literatus and his servant make sencha tea in the background. Delicate ferns, grasses, flowering vines and lichens cover the finely shaded rock walls. Raisho carefully details the bamboo mats, rattan creels and hats, the graceful folds of the pastel clothing, even the scales on the proffered fish. Lapis blue edges the shadowed crevices and tints the river. Malachite tinted leaves hang above the cliffs, balanced by the shadowed greens on the rocks below. The painting glows with a refined optimism, and represents the flowering of the sencha tradition in the early decades of the 20th century.
Originally this painting was paired with another depicting larger falls cascading into mists. Rather than form a continuous scene these two paintings echoed each other, the left painting viewing distant falls devoid of human references while the right focused on an individual scale. A black and white image of the pair together in the Nittenshi is referenced above.