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Artwork Details
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Title:Irises and Moth
Artist:Suzuki Kiitsu (Japanese, 1796–1858)
Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
Date:ca. 1850
Culture:Japan
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:Image: 39 7/8 × 12 15/16 in. (101.3 × 32.8 cm) Overall with mounting: 77 3/16 × 18 3/8 in. (196 × 46.6 cm) Overall with knobs: 77 3/16 × 20 9/16 in. (196 × 52.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.95
Sharp blades of iris here grow in a vacuum, with tight buds and flowers in full bloom—the petals striped and spotted—receding to the back of the picture plane. The wings of a lone moth echo the large petals and green blades. The impression created from combining two seemingly irreconcilable elements—Western realism and the decorativeness of the Rinpa style—is that of a conflicting vision of nature, at once realistic and surreal.
Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858), who painted this scroll, left a large body of work, some of which emulates the style of his teacher, Sakai Hōitsu (cat. no. 134). Others, which are at times tinged with a jolting modernity, display a more individualistic style. Only one painting is inscribed with a date—1857, the year before the artist's death.[1]
The son of a cloth dyer, Kiitsu entered Hōitsu's studio in 1813, at the age of seventeen. Hōitsu is said to have arranged for Kiitsu to marry the older sister of a fellow student, Suzuki Reitan, a samurai retainer of Lord Sakai; a few years later, the young artist was permitted to adopt the name "Suzuki" and to assume Reitan's position in the Sakai family. By then an accomplished follower of Hōitsu, Kiitsu assisted the master in the 1815 publication Kōrin hyakuzu (A Selection of One Hundred Paintings by Kōrin) and served as his companion on many occasions. Together they visited Yoshiwara and attended chanoyu and haikai gatherings and performances of Nō plays. Kiitsu's friendship with Hōitsu thus extended to many of Hōitsu's other acquaintances—the nanga artist Kameda Bōsai (cat. no. 167), for example, and the poet and essayist Ōta Nanpo (1749–1823). Kiitsu's responsibilities as Hōitsu's assistant continued to increase, especially after the early death of Hōitsu's adopted son, Ōho, in 1841 (cat. no. 138). Kiitsu became so adept at working in Hōitsu's style that he was given the task of executing paintings on his master's behalf.[2]
A chronology of Kiitsu's work based on the calligraphic style of his signatures was compiled by Tsuji Nobuo in 1978.[3] The signature on the Burke painting is executed in two styles: "Seisei'' is written with a flourish, while "Kiitsu" is written in the simpler gyōsho script. The one dated work, painted in 1857, is signed in an identical manner. Irises and Moth can thus be dated to the last phase of the artist's career.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[I] The painting, entitled Setsubun, which illustrates the celebration of the first day of spring, is also in the Burke Collection. See Yamane Yuzō 1977–80, vol. 1, no. 203. For a detailed discussion of Kiitsu's life, see Yokoyama Kumiko 1994, pp. 193–216. [2] Archives at the University of Michigan include letters from Hōitsu asking Kiitsu to complete commissions for his patrons. See also Kōno Motoaki 1983, pp. 9-25. [3] Tsuji Nobuo 1978, pp. 57–72.
Signature: Seisei Kiitsu
Marking: Seal: Shukurin
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. Asia Society. "Art of Japan: Selections from the Burke Collection, pts. I and II," October 2, 1986–February 22, 1987.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Die Kunst des Alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," September 16, 1990–November 18, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," July 5, 2005–August 19, 2005.
Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 4, 2005–December 11, 2005.
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," January 24, 2006–March 5, 2006.
Miho Museum. "Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 15, 2006–June 11, 2006.
Tokyo. Suntory Museum. "Suzuki Kiitsu: Standard-bearer of the Edo Rimpa School," September 10, 2016–October 30, 2016.
Nakamura Tanio 中村溪男. Hōitsuha kachō gafu 抱一派花鳥画譜 (Edo Rinpa and Artists Surrounding Sakai Hoitsu). 6 vols. Tokyo: Shikōsha, 1978–1980, pl. 73.
Murashige Yasushi 村重寧, and Kobayashi Tadashi 小林忠, eds. Rinpa 琳派, Vol. 2, Kachō 2 花鳥 II (Seasonal Flowering Plants and Birds) Kyoto: Shikōsha, 1990, pl. 132.
Tsuji Nobuo 辻惟雄, Mary Griggs Burke, Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha 日本経済新聞社, and Gifu-ken Bijutsukan 岐阜県美術館. Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki ニューヨーク・バーク・コレクション展 : 日本の美三千年の輝き(Enduring legacy of Japanese art: The Mary Griggs Burke collection). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, 2005, cat. no. 94.
Tamamushi Satoko 玉蟲敏子. Motto shiritai Sakai Hōitsu: shōgai to sakuhin もっと知りたい 酒井抱一 : 生涯と作品. Āto bigināzu korekushon. Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 2008, p. 68.
McKelway, Matthew P. Silver Wind: The Arts of Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828). Exh. cat. New York: Japan Society, 2012, p. 159, cat. no. 48.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 163, cat. no. 196.
Okano Tomoko 岡野智子. Suzuki Kitsu: Edo rinpa no kishu 鈴木其一 : 江戶琳派の旗手 (Suzuki Kiitsu: standard-bearer of the Edo rimpa school). Exh. cat. [Tokyo]: Yomiuri Shinbunsha, [2017], p. 117, cat. no. 77.
Carpenter, John T. The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018, p. 58, fig. 21.
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