Landscape painting

Japanese: 山水画 - さんすいが

One of the subjects of Oriental painting. In a broad sense, it refers to landscape painting. It was the most commonly painted, along with portraits and flower-and-bird paintings. It depicts natural scenery such as mountains, rivers, trees, and rocks, and the scenery includes people, towers, customs, birds, and animals, and is sometimes combined with the four seasons. Works such as "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang" and "West Lake," which were based on the scenic spots around Dongting Lake in Hunan Province and West Lake in Zhejiang Province, China, are broadly classified as landscape paintings, but when they are usually called landscape paintings, they do not simply depict such specific locations, but often attempt to express the universal appearance of nature beyond individual scenic spots.

[Satoru Sakakibara]

China

As early as the Han dynasty, landscapes were painted with religious symbolism as part of paintings of immortals, but the basic principles were established during the following Six Dynasties period. This was Zong Bing's "Preface to Painting Landscapes," in which he is said to have painted all the famous mountains he had traveled to on the wall in his later years, and to have been working on them while sitting and lying down. He established the basic direction of Chinese landscape painting, which aimed to express the state of mind of wandering in the mountains and lying down. After the "Changes in Landscapes" revolutionized landscape painting by Wu Daoxuan and the father-son duo Li Sikun and Li Zhaodao during the Tang dynasty, landscape painting reached its zenith in the Northern Song dynasty, marking a new era. Li Cheng, Fan Kuan, Xu Daoning, Yan Wengui, Dong Yuan, and Ju Ran were able to capture views of thousands of miles in just a few feet, and succeeded in capturing the boundless expanse of nature and landscapes. Furthermore, Guo Xi invented the three perspective techniques of flat, high, and profound, which achieved a self-contained, ideal, and comprehensive expression of landscapes and rivers. In the following Southern Song period, the border and corner composition and residual mountains and excess water style of the court painters Ma Yuan and Xia Gui, who focused on expressing poetic sentiment, limited the subject and suggested the expanse and change of nature through the use of white space, became popular. Meanwhile, painter-monks such as Mokkei and Gyokukan were also active during this period, and their works were brought to Japan after the Kamakura period and were highly valued.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Four Great Masters, Wu Zhen, Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, and Wang Meng, emerged and brought prominence to literati landscape painting, each of which developed their own unique style. In the subsequent Ming Dynasty, there was the Zhejiang School, which was descended from the Painting Academy, and the Wu School, led by Shen Zhou and Wen Zhengming, who were descended from the Four Great Masters of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, with the emergence of Dong Qichang, the superiority of the latter style of literati painting came to be advocated, and with the success of the Four Wangs Wu Yun (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Hui, Wang Yuanqi, Wu Li, and Yun Ge), the Southern School style of literati painting became popular.

[Satoru Sakakibara]

Japan

Landscape painting has been a theme since the Asuka period, and has been produced in each era while being influenced by the style of Chinese landscape painting, but it is presumed that a large number of Yamato-e (Japanese-style paintings), which depict the scenery of the four seasons in Japan, were also produced, following the traditions of paintings of the four seasons and paintings of famous places, which are unique to Japan. However, landscape paintings did not become particularly popular until the Kamakura period, when ink-wash landscape paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties were imported, and in the Zen Buddhist society centered around the Gozan Sorin (five-mountain monasteries) of the Muromachi period in particular, landscape paintings were greatly enjoyed in the unique form of Shiga-byobu (painting scrolls with poems). Shubun, Sesshu, Sesson, Sanami (Noami, Geiami, Soami) and Oguri Sotan all demonstrated their talents in landscape painting, and Sesshu in particular, by devoting himself to depicting realistic landscapes, was able to break away from imitating Chinese painting and succeed in producing uniquely Japanese landscape paintings.

After Kano Masanobu and Motonobu, through Eitoku, and into the Momoyama period, landscape paintings became significantly more decorative, like other flower and bird paintings and portraits. Eventually, in the early Edo period, Kano Tanyu achieved a style of landscape painting that was simple and elegant, and truly worthy of being called Japanese painting, by fusing it with Yamato-e. From the mid-Edo period onwards, Nanga painters such as Ikeno Taiga and Yosa Buson emerged, who studied the Southern School of painting in China's Ming and Qing dynasties and pioneered a fresh world of landscape painting. Furthermore, Maruyama Okyo advocated sketching from the real world, and created his own unique landscape paintings that harmonize realism and decoration. This was also a time when interest in depicting real landscapes increased greatly, and many "real landscape paintings" were created based on visits to famous places and scenic spots around the country. A representative example is Watanabe Kazan's "Shishu Shinkei Zukan," which in a sense can be called the deconstruction of landscape painting, which attempts to express the universal form of nature, and in another sense the early modern transformation of landscape painting, and this "Shishu Zukan" was the first step towards the modern "landscape painting" that was to come. And here, landscape painting completed its truly creative historical mission.

[Satoru Sakakibara]

Guo Xi's Tree-colored Pingyuan Picture Scrolls
Part. Northern Song Dynasty (c. 1080), silk scroll, 35.6 cm tall (853.8 cm long), owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Guo Xi's Tree-colored Pingyuan Picture Scrolls

Ma Yuan's "Admiring the Plum Blossoms Under the Moon"
Fan painting. Southern Song Dynasty (early 13th century). Silk. Artwork portion 25.1 x 26.7 cm. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art .

Ma Yuan's "Admiring the Plum Blossoms Under the Moon"

Natsukei's "Yamaichi Clear Storm"
Southern Song Dynasty (early 13th century) Silk, work part 24.8 x 21.3 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Natsukei's "Yamaichi Clear Storm"

Ni Zan's "Map of the Forests of Mount Yu"
Yuan Dynasty (1372) Artwork section 94.6 x 35.9 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ni Zan's "Map of the Forests of Mount Yu"

Wang Meng's "Diamond Cliff and the Green Tank"
Late Yuan Dynasty (around 1367) Artwork section 67.9 x 34.3 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wang Meng's "Diamond Cliff and the Green Tank"

Wang Shimin's "Landscape Painting by Huang Gongwang"
Qing Dynasty (1666) Work section 134.6 x 56.5 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ">

Wang Shimin's "Landscape Painting by Huang Gongwang"

Wang Jian's "Imitation of Ancient Landscapes"
Qing Dynasty (17th century) Picture book 29.8×31.4cm Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ">

Wang Jian's "Imitation of Ancient Landscapes"

Wang Yu's "Imitation of Li Cheng Xueyeon"
Qing Dynasty (1669) Work section 112.7 x 35.9 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wang Yu's "Imitation of Li Cheng Xueyeon"

Wang Yuanqi “Imitation of Wuchen Landscape”
Qing Dynasty (1695) Artwork section 108.6 x 51.4 cm, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ">

Wang Yuanqi “Imitation of Wuchen Landscape”

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

東洋画の画題の一つ。広義には風景画のこと。人物画、花鳥画とともにもっとも多く描かれた。山水、樹木、岩石など自然の景観を描くもので、景物としては人物、楼閣、風俗、鳥獣などをも含み、四季と組み合わされることがある。中国湖南省の洞庭湖(どうていこ)や浙江(せっこう)省の西湖(せいこ)周辺の景勝に取材した「瀟湘八景図(しょうしょうはっけいず)」や「西湖図」なども広くは山水画に含まれるが、普通、山水画とよぶ場合には、単にそうした特定の地を写し出すのみならず、個々の名勝を超えた自然の普遍的な姿を表現しようとしたものが多い。

［榊原　悟］

中国

早くも漢代には、神仙図などの部分として山水が宗教的な象徴の意味を込めて描かれていたが、続く六朝(りくちょう)時代になってその基本理念が確立した。宗炳(そうへい)の『画山水序』がそれで、彼は晩年、遊歴した名山をすべて壁に描き、坐臥(ざが)してこれに向かったといわれ、彼によって山水臥遊の心境の表現を目ざした中国山水画の基本方向が決定づけられた。唐代の呉道玄(ごどうげん)や李思訓(りしくん)・李昭道(しょうどう)父子による「山水の変」いわゆる山水画の革新を経て、やがて北宋(ほくそう)時代になると山水画は全盛を迎え、一時代を画するに至る。李成(りせい)、范寛(はんかん)、許道寧(きょどうねい)、燕文貴(えんぶんき)、董源(とうげん)、巨然(きょねん)らは、咫尺(しせき)に千里の望を収め、山水自然の無窮の広がりを画面に写し取ることに成功する。さらに郭煕(かくき)によって平遠・高遠・深遠の三遠法がくふうされ、これによって自己完結した理想的かつ総合的な山水表現が達成されることになる。続く南宋時代には、詩情の表出を主眼に、対象を限定し、余白との呼応によって自然の広がりと変化を暗示する朝廷の画院画家、馬遠(ばえん)や夏珪(かけい)の辺角構図、残山剰水(ざんざんじょうすい)形式が流行した。一方この時代には、牧谿(もっけい)、玉澗(ぎょくかん)らの画僧も活躍し、作品も鎌倉時代以降日本に伝えられ大いに珍重された。

　元代には四大家といわれる呉鎮(ごちん)、黄公望(こうこうぼう)、倪瓚(げいさん)、王蒙(おうもう)らが出て文人山水画を台頭させ、それぞれ個性的な画風を完成する。続く明(みん)代には画院の流れをくむ浙派(せっぱ)と元の四大家の流れをくむ沈周(ちんしゅう)、文徴明(ぶんちょうめい)らの呉派とがあったが、のち董其昌(とうきしょう)の出現によって後者の文人画の系統の優位性が説かれ、四王呉惲(しおうごうん)（王時敏(おうじびん)、王鑑(おうかん)、王翬(おうき)、王原祁(おうげんき)、呉歴(ごれき)、惲格(うんかく)）らの活躍とともに、以後は文人画としての南宗画(なんしゅうが)風が盛んとなった。

［榊原　悟］

日本

飛鳥(あすか)時代から山水画の画題はあり、各時代に中国山水画の様式的影響を受けながら制作されてきたが、これとは別に日本固有の四季絵や名所絵の伝統にのっとり、日本の四季の風物を描き込んだ大和絵(やまとえ)の、いわゆる山水屏風(せんずいびょうぶ)も数多く制作されたと推定される。しかし山水画がとりわけ盛行をみるのは、鎌倉時代以後、宋元の水墨山水画が輸入されてからのことで、とくに室町期の五山叢林(そうりん)を中心とする禅宗社会では、山水画は詩画軸という独得の形式によって大いに享受された。周文、雪舟、雪村、三阿弥(さんあみ)（能阿弥、芸阿弥、相阿弥）や小栗宗湛(おぐりそうたん)らはいずれも山水画に本領を発揮、ことに雪舟は、実景描写に腐心することによって、中国画の模倣から脱し、独自の日本的山水画を描くことに成功した。

　狩野正信(かのうまさのぶ)、元信(もとのぶ)以降、永徳を経て、桃山時代になると、山水画も他の花鳥画や人物画などと同様著しく装飾的になり、やがて江戸初期の狩野探幽(たんゆう)によって、大和絵との融合から、平明で瀟洒(しょうしゃ)な、まさしく日本画とも称さるべき山水画様式が達成された。また江戸中期以降、池大雅(いけのたいが)、与謝蕪村(よさぶそん)らの南画家が出て、中国明清(みんしん)の南宗画風を学んで鮮新な山水画の世界を開拓した。さらに円山応挙(まるやまおうきょ)は写生を唱え、写実と装飾とを調和させた独自の山水画を描いている。またこの時代は実景描写への関心も大いに高まり、各地の名所、景勝を訪れ、これに取材した「真景図」も数多く制作された。渡辺崋山(かざん)の『四州真景図巻』などがその代表的作例で、これはある意味では、自然の普遍的な姿を表現しようとする山水画の解体とも、また一面では山水画の近世的変質とも称さるべきであり、この「真景図」は、やがてきたるべき近代的「風景画」への第一歩ともなった。そしてここに山水画は、真に創造的な歴史的使命を終えることになる。

［榊原　悟］

郭煕『樹色平遠図巻』
部分。北宋代（1080年ころ）　絹　巻物　縦35.6cm（巻物の長さ853.8cm）メトロポリタン美術館所蔵">

郭煕『樹色平遠図巻』

馬遠『月下賞梅図』
団扇絵。南宋代（13世紀初め）　絹　作品部25.1×26.7cmメトロポリタン美術館所蔵">

馬遠『月下賞梅図』

夏珪『山市晴嵐図』
南宋代（13世紀初め）　絹　作品部24.8×21.3cmメトロポリタン美術館所蔵">

夏珪『山市晴嵐図』

倪瓚『虞山林壑図』
元代（1372年）　作品部94.6×35.9cmメトロポリタン美術館所蔵">

倪瓚『虞山林壑図』

王蒙『丹崖翠壑図』
元代後期（1367年ころ）　作品部67.9×34.3cmメトロポリタン美術館所蔵">

王蒙『丹崖翠壑図』

王時敏『倣黄公望山水図』
清代（1666年）　作品部134.6×56.5cmメトロポリタン美術館所蔵">