Gold & Ink · Pair of six-panel folding screens · Unkoku Tōgan, c. 1600
Landscape of the Four Seasons
Dark ink near, pale ink far.
The Work
Mountains and water through the four seasons, from right to left, mainly in ink — with touches of color and gold dust.
Look Closer
Sharp cliffs, pavilions, faraway hills in mist. Dark ink near, pale ink far: depth appears on a flat sheet of paper.
The Artist
Tōgan was born in 1547 into a samurai family and became painter to the Mōri, the great lords of western Japan.
The Artist
The Mōri gave him Sesshū's old studio, Unkoku-an. Taking "Unkoku" as his name, he claimed to carry on Sesshū's style.
Japan at the Time
The Momoyama era was the age of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, when castle halls blazed with gold paintings to display power.
Culture & Values
Yet in Zen temples and tea rooms, the quiet of monochrome ink was prized. Gold and ink were two tastes of the same age.
Meanwhile, in the World
Around 1600, Shakespeare was writing Hamlet in London, and the Dutch East India Company was founded.
Afterward
Tōgan's descendants carried on the Unkoku school as painters to the Mōri throughout the Edo period.
Listen while you look
This work stays on screen for about ten minutes in the full hour of Gold & Ink, with Four Seasons In Ink and Sesshu's Old Studio.
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