Autumn Landscape

Autumn Landscape is a marvelous hanging scroll painting dating back to about 1780. It was painted by a very talented Japanese painter and haiku poet Yosa Buson in the Edo period. This painting is done in delicate ink and light wash colors on silk. This painting revolves around a large, barren mountain range that has been painted through dynamic brushstrokes that give an impression of rock formation. In the midst of this mountain range, there is a small building that has been placed precariously on the top of the ridge. The painting gives an impression of isolation and academic seclusion in the midst of nature. A number of bare and wind-swept trees have been painted along the lower ridges and valleys of the mountain range, giving an impression of autumnal melancholy. To the top left is vertical calligraphy with red artist seals, a true textual ground to which the painting adheres, typical of the East Asian landscape genre. With its muted colors, soft brushwork, and spacious emptiness, the painting beautifully conveys a feeling of serene spirituality, impermanence, and oneness with nature. Brush strokes which are long, flowing, and interconnected have been used to develop the main body of the mountain. These techniques have been adopted from the literati painting style that has been used by the Chinese to portray texture of soil and weathered stones dynamically instead of static depiction of the same. There has been use of lighter washes of colors for painting as opposed to using rich pigments.