Bamboo and Rocks

Yanagisawa Kien Japanese

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 230

Yanagisawa Kien demonstrates his mastery in this painting of bamboo and rocks. The confident brushwork appears spontaneous, yet subtle draft outlines reveal the artist’s meticulous compositional planning. A light blue wash—rare in Kien’s corpus—provides a backdrop to the monochrome elements in the foreground, enhancing the sense of spatial depth.

Kien was born into a high-ranking samurai family. While serving as a feudal official he practiced a variety of artistic pursuits, excelling particularly in painting and calligraphy. He interacted widely with scholars and artists of his time, inspiring subsequent generations of literati painters in Japan.

Bamboo and Rocks, Yanagisawa Kien (Japanese, 1703–1758), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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Bamboo and Rocks, Yanagisawa Kien (Japanese, 1703–1758), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Bamboo and Rocks, Yanagisawa Kien (Japanese, 1703–1758), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Bamboo and Rocks, Yanagisawa Kien (Japanese, 1703–1758), Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan

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