Page 115 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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TANAKA RAISHO (1868-1940)
Deep Ravine Waterfall Born in Shimane Prefecture, Tanaka Raisho studied painting
under Mori Kansai. In 1902 he moved to Tokyo to study under
Signed Raisho and sealed Raisho
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk Kawabata Gyokusho. His work won a number of awards in
88º x 43√ in. (224 x 111.4 cm.) the Nihon Bijutsu Kyokai Exhibitions (Japan Art Association).
Raisho served as a juror for the Tatsumi Gakai, a counselor for the
$20,000-30,000 Nihongakai, and an instructor at the Kawabata Painting School
(Kawabata Gagakko). He won third prize at the 1907 Tokyo
PROVENANCE: Kangyo Hakurankai (Tokyo Industrial Exhibition), and the same
Hosokawa Rikizo Collection year, on the occasion of the Bunten’s establishment, he participated
Meguro Gajoen Museum of Art, Tokyo as Secretary in the formation of the Seiha Doshikai. By this time
he was already a major figure in Tokyo painting circles. His first
EXHIBITED:
"8th Art Exhibition by Imperial Academy of Fine Arts" (Teiten), submission to the Bunten came the following year in 1908, when
Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, Tokyo, 16 October-20 November, he took a third place prize. He also exhibited works in 1909, and
1927 in 1912 - 1914, winning third place prizes for each. In 1915 his
Bunten painting took second place, and in 1916 and 1917 he took
the highest honors successively. He was thus astonishingly active in
the field of landscape painting, his specialty.

With the initiation of the Teiten, Raisho became a nominated artist
(1919) and a committee member of the Teiten in 1924. He had
a piece accepted to the first Shotoku Taishi Hosan Exhibition in
1926, and in 1935 participated in the Dai Ichibukai in the Teiten
Reorganization (Teiten Kaiso). After the Great Kanto earthquake
he moved to Hiroshima, where he died in 1940 at the age of 71.

With Deep Ravine Waterfall, Tanaka Raisho centers the summer
composition on three Chinese sages conversing with fishermen
in boats. Behind them the falls cascade into mist, gilded with
sunlight. A warm shaft of light illuminates the figures on the
bridge and glances across those on the water, where a literatus
and his servant make sencha tea in the background. Delicate ferns,
grasses, flowering vines and lichens cover the finely shaded rock
walls. Raisho carefully details the bamboo mats, rattan creels and
hats, the graceful folds of the pastel clothing, even the scales on the
proffered fish. Lapis blue edges the shadowed crevices and tints the
river. Malachite tinted leaves hang above the cliffs, balanced by the
shadowed greens on the rocks below. The painting glows with a
refined optimism, and represents the flowering of the sencha tradition
in the early decades of the 20th century.

Originally this painting was paired with another depicting larger
falls cascading into mists. Rather than form a continuous scene
these two paintings echoed each other, the left painting viewing
distant falls devoid of human references while the right focused on
an individual scale. A black and white image of the pair together in
the Nittenshi is referenced above.