Chinese Scenes
Hirano Chikuitsu, Chinese Scenes, 1932, pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, no known copyright restrictions, 2012.119.2a,b
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Chinese Scenes
- Related Titles
original language: 山水図屏風
- Artist
- Date
1932
- Medium
pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
68 3/4 in x 151 in
- Collection Area
Asian Art
- Category
Paintings
- Object Type
folding screen
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles
- Accession Number
2012.119.2a,b
- Copyright
no known copyright restrictions
- Terms
Hirano Chikuitsu was a member of the last generation to carry on the Japanese tradition of literati painting—a movement inspired by the art of Chinese scholar-amateurs, who championed personal expression and calligraphic brushwork. Chikuitsu exhibited at the most prestigious national salons and in 1929 he had a solo exhibition in Taiwan, which was then under Japanese control.
The poem inscribed on the right-hand screen, written in Chinese and possibly Chikuitsu’s own composition, reads in vertical columns, from right to left, as follows:
竹 歲 人 倚 丹 香 萬 三 無 一
逸 次 聽 欄 霞 霧 里 筆 邊 上
逸 壬 天 自 還 尚 雲 日 景 高
人 申 風 覚 映 潤 開 書 象 臺
寫 夏 數 吟 水 衣 世 乾 入 望
日 聲 醉 光 霑 界 坤 詩 帝
長 豁 明 濕 清 大 情 城A climb to the tall terrace—
a view of the imperial city:
A limitless panorama of images
bringing poetic feeling!
With threefold brush, everyday
I describe the vastness of the cosmos;
Over ten thousand miles, the clouds open,
revealing a world of purity!
By fragrant fog now fructifying,
my clothes are touched and moistened;
With rosy mists again reflecting,
the river’s brilliance shines!
I lean on the balustrade, poetic voice
inspired, intoxicated:
And now are heard the winds of Heaven,
in several voices, long [enduring].On a summer day in a water-monkey year
Painted by Chikuitsu—Transcription and translation by Jonathan Chaves