The Chinese Taoist Immortals, Han-shan and Shih-te (Kanzan and Jittoku)
date: label: Date
content: 1886
label: Period
content: Meiji era
name: label: Artist
content: Hashimoto Gaho 橋本雅邦 (1835-1908)
notes: label: Label
content: The Chinese hermits known in Japanese as Kanzan (Hanshan in Chinese) and Jittoku (Shide in Chinese), lived near the sacred mountain Tiantaishan during the Tang dynasty (618-907). They appear frequently in Zen Buddhist paintings, in which they represent rejection of the secular world. Here Kanzan opens a scroll of his poetry, while Jittoku, a servant at a monastery, looks on.
label: Label
content: Gaho's composition exploits contrasts of dark and light tones and sets the figures in a conventional but highly simplified landscape. The painting was shown in an exhibition organized by the Kangakai (Society for the Appreciation of Paintings), which had been organized by the American Ernest F. Fenellosa (1853-1908) to promote the creation of new Japanese-style paintings. Fenellosa wrote to Charles Lang Freer in 1902 that the painting had created such excitement that "the Emperor asked to borrow it and kept it several months." Fenellosa's influence in persuading collectors abroad to acquire paintings by living Japanese artists whose work he admired may account for the fact that few of the paintings shown in the Kangakai meetings or exhibitions have remained in Japan.
label: Provenance
content: To 1902
label: Provenance
content: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908), New York, NY, and Spring Hill, AL, to 1902 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1902 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ernest Francisco Fenollosa in 1902 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 284, pg. 66, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Sotatsu: Making Waves (Saturday, October 24, 2015 to Sunday, January 31, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Tales and Legends in Japanese Art (June 21, 2003 to January 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: Religious Art of Japan (December 18, 2002 to January 4, 2015)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art of the Meiji Era (September 20, 1997 to April 26, 1998)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to August 1, 1994)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art (July 1, 1974 to April 10, 1978)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Paintings (October 25, 1955 to November 23, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art, 1951 (January 23, 1951 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Art (October 3, 1947 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Hanging Scrolls, Ceramics, and Sculpture (October 2, 1947 to January 23, 1951)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Ceramics and Painting (May 2, 1946 to October 2, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Paintings Buddhist Etc. (January 5, 1928 to December 8, 1941)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Paintings and Pottery (May 2, 1923 to December 8, 1941)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa (1853-1908) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Daoism
label: Topic
content: Meiji era (1868 - 1912)
label: Topic
content: Kanzan
label: Topic
content: Jittoku
label: Topic
content: Daoist Immortals
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1902.227
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and slight tint on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 122 × 58.1 cm (48 1/16 × 22 7/8 in)