White Clouds

This small but powerfully brushed calligraphic composition appears ready to burst out of the constraints of its square poetry card, or shikishi. The characters Shirakumo 白雲, “White Clouds,” evoke one of the most commonly experienced natural phenomena, but at the same time recalls imagery from Japanese poetry going back over a thousand years. We can read a poetic interpretation into this calligraphy since it was brushed by Sōfū Teshigahara the esteemed founder of the Sōgetsu-ryū school of ikebana flower arranging who was also an avant-garde calligrapher and student of ancient Japanese poetry and prose classics.

Teshigahara was trained by his father in traditional ikebana techniques, but came to the realization that once orthodox rules and techniques were mastered, one is free to experiment with radical arrangement, using varied materials (even scrap metal, for instance), not just flowers. He extended this philosophy of art to calligraphy and sculpture. Influenced by Abstract Expressionism in the West and artists of the Gutai movement in Japan, Teshigahara wielded his brush, whether for small or large format works, with great deliberation, producing works that are at once word, image, and the record of gestural action. He often brushed characters that conjure up natural scenes, and compositionally he placed the kanji (Chinese characters) off-center, off-kilter, and, as here, pushing to the boundaries of the paper or screen panel.