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Two long horizontal screens, each painted with a scene depicting a wooden house surrounded by trees

Two long horizontal screens displayed side by side, are each comprised of six vertical folding panels. When unfolded, each reveals a woodland scene. The left screen shows a closeup view of a small wood frame house surrounded by thin trees. At lower left, a fair skinned young woman in a bright blue kimono stands with her hands raised to the top of her head which is covered with a white cloth. A water wheel can be glimpsed at left, just around the corner of the house. The right hand screen is an extended view of the left, showing the opposite corner of the house. At left is a wall of tightly woven bamboo, and slender trees are growing in the foreground as well as the background, on a hillside sloping downward to the right.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2017.80.2
People
Watanabe Kōkan 渡辺公観 (1877 - 1938)
Title
This Morning's Autumn (left)
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 今朝の秋 Kesa no aki
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
screen, painting
Date
1918 (Taishō 7)
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/358130

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Left screen for a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gold
Dimensions
each screen: 172 × 363 cm (67 11/16 × 142 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Kōkan 公観 (bottom of panel 6, right screen)
  • inscription: None

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Private Collection, Japan, (1918-2016), sold. [Art market, Kyoto, (2016-2017)], sold; to [Erik Thomsen Gallery, New York, 2017)], sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2017.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2017
Object Number
2017.80.2
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Pair of six-panel folding screens painted by Nihonga painter Watanabe Kōkan (1877-1938) depicting a woodswoman (Oharame) tying her headscarf in front of a mill as she prepares for work on an early autumn morning. Exhibited at the 1918 Bunten exhibition.

Related Works

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu