.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Kinichiro Ishikawa was once a student of Asai Chu, a Japanese painter in Europe. At the age of 28, he decided to learn traditional watercolour painting in the United Kingdom where he fully established his own artistic style. In 1907, he was sent to Taiwan to be the translation officer at the General Office and the art instructor of Japanese Language School; in 1923, he began teaching in the National Taipei Teachers Collage, his teaching career over two decades made him the torchbearer of the modern art movement in Taiwan, many artistic pioneers like Chen Cheng-po, Liao Chi-Ch'un, Ran In-Ting and Chang Wan- Chuan were all his students. Christie's is proud to present the following pieces of privately collected work- Landscape (Lot 1260), Spring Village (Lot 1261) and Katsura River, Koshu (Lot 1262). Landscape, in particular, is one of the artist's rarely seen large-sized paintings, which exemplify Ishikawa's achievement to merge Western drawing techniques with the traditional aesthetics in the Eastern landscape painting.
In traditional ink-wash painting, the painting is oftentimes vertically oriented in order to amplify the grandeur of the landscape. In Landscape, Ishikawa merely takes a certain part of the layering mountains, and applies very delicate shades of colour to the foreground without detailed delineation. The contour of the scenery only begins to sharpen gradually as it comes to the middle ground; this seemingly indefinite distance is a derivation from the unique spaciousness of Japanese Zen painting. Amid the haze, a path appears visible among the mountains and rocks. Through the interaction between light ink and transparent watercolour, Ishikawa brings up the depth in the picture with varying textures of the paints. In the middle ground, the overlapping branches of the trees are delineated with brushes of thick ink, by applying a variety of brushstrokes, the artist created the fullness of layering. After decades of evolution, Japanese literati paintings became entirely different from Chinese painting. The "tsun" brushstrokes and delineation are no longer the focus. Well trained in transparent watercolour painting, Ishikawa carries on the Japanese tradition, the mountains depicted on two sides shine with moisture and display a transition of light and shadow, reflecting his mastery in controlling water volume. Although the painting is largely applied with earth tone such as yellowish and reddish brown, the artist highlighted the distinctive layers of trees and moss with diluted cobalt and sapphire blue, thus balancing the massive use of warm colour tone with cool colours. The distant mountains in the background reflect the influence from Western aesthetics on Chao, as in traditional Eastern landscapes, distant mountains are usually painted with light ink. Ishikawa however directly painted the tip of the mountain with a wet brush. The transition between light and shadow is then brought about by the few brushes of unevenly mixed paints, the gaps between each strokes seem to constitute the contour of the undulating mountains, as such the artist has already broken away from the traditional landscape ink-wash painting, which is restricted the painter to truly reflect his spiritual world in the work. In addition to manifesting a combination of transparent watercolour technique and traditional Japanese literati painting, Landscape exemplifies Ishikawa's actual perception and experience towards the surroundings after he turned to see the real world with this integrated viewpoint of Western sketching.
Spring Village and Katsura River, Koshu are the artist's smallscale work on rural scenery. Ishikawa emphasised that sketching from nature is important to master the technique of transparent watercolour. Also, the delicate variation between water and paint is predominant to produce realistic effects. In the foreground of Spring Village, the short, horizontal brushstrokes are applied to establish the gentle and smooth plain, while the gradual transition from earth tone to apple green implies the arrival of spring; blank spaces left between the woods seem to suggest the movement of the branches as the wind sweeps along; set against the pale blue background, the contour of the distant trees seems to turn vague within the dense, think mist in the mountain. Katsura River, Koshu shows the scenery of the Katsura riverside in Yamanashi Prefecture. Depicted with a variety of colour tones, the trees along the coast constitute a great contrast with the gentle shoal painted with a monochromic tone. Painted with pale colour, the middle ground and distant mountains on the left seem to occupy a rear position, as such the layers of colours serve to present the scenery in distinctive depths. Ishikawa aim to exploring the beauty of landscape in his work, and his watercolour shows deep connections with indigenous characteristics. Ishikawa opened up a path for expressing his humanitarian concerns for the locals through his art, and inflicted profound influence on the generations to come through his dedications to art education in Taiwan.
In traditional ink-wash painting, the painting is oftentimes vertically oriented in order to amplify the grandeur of the landscape. In Landscape, Ishikawa merely takes a certain part of the layering mountains, and applies very delicate shades of colour to the foreground without detailed delineation. The contour of the scenery only begins to sharpen gradually as it comes to the middle ground; this seemingly indefinite distance is a derivation from the unique spaciousness of Japanese Zen painting. Amid the haze, a path appears visible among the mountains and rocks. Through the interaction between light ink and transparent watercolour, Ishikawa brings up the depth in the picture with varying textures of the paints. In the middle ground, the overlapping branches of the trees are delineated with brushes of thick ink, by applying a variety of brushstrokes, the artist created the fullness of layering. After decades of evolution, Japanese literati paintings became entirely different from Chinese painting. The "tsun" brushstrokes and delineation are no longer the focus. Well trained in transparent watercolour painting, Ishikawa carries on the Japanese tradition, the mountains depicted on two sides shine with moisture and display a transition of light and shadow, reflecting his mastery in controlling water volume. Although the painting is largely applied with earth tone such as yellowish and reddish brown, the artist highlighted the distinctive layers of trees and moss with diluted cobalt and sapphire blue, thus balancing the massive use of warm colour tone with cool colours. The distant mountains in the background reflect the influence from Western aesthetics on Chao, as in traditional Eastern landscapes, distant mountains are usually painted with light ink. Ishikawa however directly painted the tip of the mountain with a wet brush. The transition between light and shadow is then brought about by the few brushes of unevenly mixed paints, the gaps between each strokes seem to constitute the contour of the undulating mountains, as such the artist has already broken away from the traditional landscape ink-wash painting, which is restricted the painter to truly reflect his spiritual world in the work. In addition to manifesting a combination of transparent watercolour technique and traditional Japanese literati painting, Landscape exemplifies Ishikawa's actual perception and experience towards the surroundings after he turned to see the real world with this integrated viewpoint of Western sketching.
Spring Village and Katsura River, Koshu are the artist's smallscale work on rural scenery. Ishikawa emphasised that sketching from nature is important to master the technique of transparent watercolour. Also, the delicate variation between water and paint is predominant to produce realistic effects. In the foreground of Spring Village, the short, horizontal brushstrokes are applied to establish the gentle and smooth plain, while the gradual transition from earth tone to apple green implies the arrival of spring; blank spaces left between the woods seem to suggest the movement of the branches as the wind sweeps along; set against the pale blue background, the contour of the distant trees seems to turn vague within the dense, think mist in the mountain. Katsura River, Koshu shows the scenery of the Katsura riverside in Yamanashi Prefecture. Depicted with a variety of colour tones, the trees along the coast constitute a great contrast with the gentle shoal painted with a monochromic tone. Painted with pale colour, the middle ground and distant mountains on the left seem to occupy a rear position, as such the layers of colours serve to present the scenery in distinctive depths. Ishikawa aim to exploring the beauty of landscape in his work, and his watercolour shows deep connections with indigenous characteristics. Ishikawa opened up a path for expressing his humanitarian concerns for the locals through his art, and inflicted profound influence on the generations to come through his dedications to art education in Taiwan.