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Title: Ink Paintings and Ash-Glazed Ceramics: Medieval Calligraphy, Painting and Ceramic Art from Japan and Korea by Michael R. Cunningham, Shinichi Miyajima, Yamashita Yuji, Yuji Yamashita, Cleveland Museum of Art, Miyajima Shin'ichi ISBN: 0-940717-58-1 Publisher: Cleveland Museum of Art Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00

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Summary: Inky Work
Comment: The Cleveland Museum of Art has held special exhibitions of E Asian art for the last 30 years. In 2000 the exhibition was of INK PAINTINGS & ASHGLAZED CERAMICS: MEDIEVAL CALLIGRAPHY, PAINTING & CERAMICS FROM JAPAN & KOREA. The art was from the museum's George Gund collection of 13th-16th century known master painters and talented unknown artists.

Ink painting got into Japan, from China, as part of Tang dynasty painting. One of the earliest examples, Landscape on hemp cloth, must have been done in the late 8th century. At that time, waves were typically made bird wing-like. Also, coastal islands were typically made in just a few brushstrokes. It was definitely an ink painting, because of the modeling and the texture strokes lighting and shading the rocks.

Japanese ink painting peaked in the 14th century and in the second halves of the 15th and 18th centuries. Chinese paintings had been imported, as gifts, but also to be bought and sold at high prices. Supply didn't meet demand. So Japanese painters had to churn out good copies, in the styles of 13th-century Chinese masters Xia Gui, Muqi, and Ma Yuan.

But the Japanese tended not to let go of their painting traditions or views of nature in copying. For example, Chinese landscapes were orderly and realistic, Japanese helter skelter. The only known exception was the most famous ink painter, Sesshu Toyo, 1420-1506. While learning ink from Li Zai and color from Zhang Yousheng, he took on the Chinese view of nature. Because of his reputation, late 15th-century Japanese artists were more realistic than usual, in portraits and in screens showing artisans and Kyoto area scenes.

Sesshu was part of the golden age of Japanese ink painting, known as the Higashiyama period. Most of the exhibition's paintings are from that period and afterwards. They include works by two other famous ink painters, Bokkei Saiyo and Bunsei. They also have artworks by Ikkyu Sojun. The lives, let alone the identities, of many ink painters didn't make it through time. But Ikkyu was one of the few who has always been well known, because of his art and the stories about his life. In fact, Japanese television started up a children's cartoon program, with him as the main character.

Author Michael R Cunningham includes illustrations and write-ups for all 33 items. His book's well organized, with a good bibliography and helpful glossary. It's every bit as impressive as his earlier BUDDHIST TREASURES FROM NARA and his later UNFOLDING BEAUTY: JAPANESE SCREENS FROM THE CLEVELAND ART MUSEUM.