Yamaga Seika 山鹿清華 (1885 –1981)

Painting of a Cuckoo 「かんことり図」

Pair of six-panel folding screens
Mineral pigments and ink on gold leaf

Signed: Seika 清華
Seals: Seika 清華

Box inscription, outside: Kankotori zu »Painting of a Cuckoo« かんことり図

Box inscription, inside: »Exhibited at the fifth Bunten exhibition and exhibited at the World Exposition in Amsterdam, Holland« 第五回文部省美術展覧会出品、和蘭國 アムステルダム万国美術博覧会出品. »Dated the seventh month of 1911, [signed] Seika« 明治辛亥初秋　清華

Published: Shinbi Shoin 審美書院 Monbusho daigokai bijutsu tenrankai zuroku 文部省第五回美術展覧会図録. Tokyo: Shinbi Shoin 審美書院, 1911.
Also published in: Nittenshi Hensan Iinkai 日展史編纂委員会, Nittenshi 日展史. Tokyo: Nitten 日展, 1980–.1

The painting offers a magnificent display of Cryptomeria trees (Sugi) spreading across two six-fold screens. The detailing is remarkably realistic and gives a striking sense of depth, due to carefully calibrated variations in colors. The trunk of the tree is marked with the ravages of time, giving the impression of an old and mighty tree, deep in the forest. Hidden among the branches of the tree a bird can be seen, the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), in Japanese Kakkō or Kankodori.2 The artist chose the latter reading for the bird, a name which also can be translated as »high mountain bird« and which has clear poetic connotations. The bird has a long tradition in Japanese poetry, appearing not only in classical Heian-period waka poetry but also in early modern haiku. Matsuo Bashō (1644 – 94), for example, wrote a poem on the bird: »Your song caresses / the depths of loneliness / high mountain bird.«3 The artist successfully creates a visual connection to such poems and to a rich tradition of the cuckoo within Japanese literature.

As written on the inside cover, this work was exhibited in the fifth national Bunten exhibition in 1911.4 In the following year, it was then exhibited in Amsterdam at the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art (Internationale Tentoonstelling van Hedendaagsche Kunst), held at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1912.5 It was one of few paintings at the time to win great honors in both Japan and the West, a fact which led Seika to write his proud inscription on the box cover.

The artist is Yamaga Seika (1885 –1981), who was born in Kyoto Prefecture.6 He, as many others of his generation, went to Tokyo to be educated in painting, studying under Nishida Chikusetsu 西田竹雪 in 1900 and then two years later under the renowned Kamisaka Sekka 神坂雪佳 (1866 –1949).7 After placing the present painting in the Bunten and then subsequently in an international exhibition in Amsterdam, he painted other large works, among which a pair of screens with the title Shirakanba シラカンバ was exhibited in the first Seibu Tenrankai of the National Art Association in 1913. This pair of screens, which was published in the exhibition volume, exhibits composition and execution similar to the Cuckoo pair: in both the focus is on isolated groupings of trees of the same species, created with exquisite details and set against a simple gold-leaf background.8

It is unusual for an artist to completely change his field, especially after early success; having successfully participated in national and international exhibitions and achieved nationally-recognized status. However, this was the case with Yamaga Seika, who, after achieving a breakthrough with this painting in 1911 and 1912, chose to leave the field of Nihonga painting completely. Seika became one of the few Japanese artists who was able to create first-rate works in a number of different fields. After his success in Nihonga he went on to become one of the leading textile designers and experts of the twentieth century, amassing an impressive trail of awards and achievements.

Seika’s participation in national exhibitions in his second field of textile design is nothing but astounding—entries in over thirty major national exhibitions between 1911 and 1957.9 He also became an exhibition judge of the Teiten in 1932, the Shinbunten in 1943, and a member of the Nitten in 1950 and kept a close connection to the latter through a number of executive positions. Seika also took part in numerous overseas expositions and won the grand prize at the Paris International Exposition in 1925.10 An authority on textiles and textile design, he also left a number of publications behind him.11 He ended his long illustrious career with some of the highest honors bestowed on Japanese artists, being named a Person of Cultural Merit (Bunka Kōrōsha 文化功労者) in 1969 and awarded the 3rd Class Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Kunsantō zuihōshō 勲三等瑞宝章) from the Emperor in 1974.

The present screen holds an important place in his illustrious career as it was the first public sign of success that marked his start as an artist: this was the first of his artworks to be accepted by a national exhibition and to be seen by the general public.

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