Religious Art & Worldviews · Artists
The Zen monk-painter who studied in Ming China and returned to make ink landscape the deepest expression of Japanese Zen.
Tagged: Painting Medieval Devotional Ink Painting Buddhist Zen
Sesshu, a Zen acolyte who became a master of suiboku-ga, sailed to China in 1467 to study at the source; he came home to surpass his teachers. His landscapes reduce mountains to a few strokes of graded ink with whole weather systems inside them.
The pictured album leaf carries his inscription and seals — calligraphy and painting in one gesture, the monk's art and the monk's hand indistinguishable.
References
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