Artworks

Kanzan

Artwork · Kaō · before 1345 · kakemono · Freer Gallery of Art

The eccentric Chinese poet Kanzan (Hanshan), who lived in a cave near the Guoqing monastery on Mount Tiantai, stands gazing upward as if at the moon, smiling at some unknown amusement: broad, quick strokes of light ink for his skirt, fine grey lines for face and feet, darker ink for his unkempt hair. Its painter Kaō was a monk with an excellent calligraphic hand, well versed in Zen and literati imagery, though there is confusion over the Kaō and Ninga seals. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 221–222, fig. 255. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.