The Landscape Painting
of
China and Japan
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hugo Munsterberg was born in Germany, the son of the famous German Orientalist Oskar Munsterberg. He has lived in the United States since 1935, receiving his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University, where he followed his father's footsteps by specializing in Oriental art, studying under Benjamin Rowland, Langdon Warner, and Laurence Sickman. After completing his doctoral thesis on Chinese Buddhist bronzes, he taught Oriental art first at Wellesley College and then at Michigan State College. He was Professor of Art History at, the International Christian University, Tokyo, until 1956 and is now teaching at New York State University.
In addition to many articles and book reviews on the art and culture of China and Japan, he has published several books, including: The Folk Arts of Japan, The Arts of Japan: An Illustrated History, and The Art of the Chinese Sculptor.
Autumn Landscape, traditionally ascribed to Emperor Hui Tsung
Hugo Munsterberg
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTING
OF
CHINA AND JAPAN
CHARLES E. TUTTLE COMPANY
Rutland, Vermont Tokyo, Japan
Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company
of Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan
with editorial offices at
Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032
All rights reserved
First edition, 1955
Third printing, 1960
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 55-10622
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1312-1 (ebook)
Printed in Japan
TO MY MOTHER
WHO TAUGHT ME TO LOVE ART
AND TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER
OSKAR MÜNSTERBERG
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It would be impossible to list all those who in one way or another have been of help to me in my study of Chinese and Japanese landscape painting, for this work has been possible only through the labors of my colleagues, both Western and Oriental. However I wish to acknowledge above all my indebtedness to my teachers at Harvard University, Professor Benjamin Rowland and Mr. Laurence Sickman, with whom I studied Chinese painting and Mr. Langdon Warner, under whom I studied Japanese painting.
No one working in this field can do so without drawing heavily upon the scholarship of Professor Osvald Siren whose books on Chinese painting and translations from Chinese texts have been of immeasurable help in my studies. The same may be said of the translations undertaken by Professor Alexander Soper and Miss Shio Sakanishi, and to them I wish to express my thanks for letting me quote from their writings.
I wish to thank the private collectors and museums who have been kind enough to permit me to draw upon their material for the illustrations in this book, especially Mr. John Pope of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, Mr. Robert Paine of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Mr. Laurence Sickman of the Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, Miss Hiroko Kojima of the National Museum in Tokyo, Miss Akiko Ueno of Bijutsu Kenkyujō, and Dr. Victoria Contag of the University of Mainz. Finally, I am deeply indebted to my wife, whose help and advice has been a tremendous asset throughout the writing of this book; it may indeed be said that it would not have been written without her aid and encouragement.
Hugo Munsterberg
NOTE
The characters on the cover—shan (mountain) and shui (water), meaning "landscape"—are reproduced from the renowned calligraphy of Kōbō Daishi, Japan's great 9th-century ecclesiast.
The end-paper design reproduces a section from the hemp-cloth landscape in the Shōsō-in, Nara (see page 86).
Contents
1. THE SPIRIT OF CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTING
2. THE BEGINNINGS OF CHINESE LANDSCAPE PAINTING
4. THE FIVE DYNASTIES AND EARLY SUNG PERIODS
10. THE BEGINNINGS OF LANDSCAPE PAINTING IN JAPAN
11. THE HEIAN AND KAMAKURA PERIODS
14. THE EDO PERIOD
15. LANDSCAPE PAINTERS OF THE UKIYO-E SCHOOL
LIST OF PLATES