Winter landscape: a ravine

This evening landscape reflects the artist Kano Hogai's study of earlier Chinese and Japanese ink painters, including Sesshu (1420-1506). Many of Hogai's landscapes reflect his study of the dense rock and mountain compositions and the rendering of spatial depth that are characteristic of Sesshu. Hogai's approach to the traditional subject of ink landscape painting stresses dramatic compositions featuring strong contrasts of ink tonality and selective reduction of detail that creates a somewhat abstract image. Hogai had not yet begun his study of Western art, but his emphasis of rational articulation of space contributed to the acceptance of his work by foreign collectors and audiences.