Impressive View of the Go River
Mount: 79 1/2 × 28 1/2 inches (201.93 × 72.39 cm)
During artist Ike Taiga's lifetime, Japan was largely closed off from the rest of the world. However, he still had indirect access to new artistic ideas and knowledge via objects brought from China, Korea, and the Netherlands through trade.
In this painting, we see how Taiga brought together artistic concepts from different cultures. Following traditions of Chinese scholar-artists, he used ink and vigorous brushwork to express his impression of the river's dramatic flow. The sense of distance and depth conveyed here might be inspired by drawings and prints by Dutch artists.
With William L. Evans Jr., Kansas City, MO, by 1979;
His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1979.Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 366 (repro.)
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 398, fig. 65 (repro.)
Hoan Kogusgi, Ike no taiga sakuhinshū, (Tokyo: Chūo-kōron bijutsu shuppan, 1960), 1:2; no. 462, p.462:3.
Albuquerque Museum, Katachi, Form and Spirit in Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Albuquerque: Albuquerque Museum, 1980), no. 61, 44.
