Fukuda Kodojin | Landscape painting
The eccentricity of the paintings by Fukuda Kodojin resembles that seen in the works of many other self-taught literati painters in Japan. Even though Chinese literati ideals celebrated the concept of amateurism, Chinese literati painters usually attained near professional levels of brush technique. In Japan, however, many artists, Kodojin among them, respected this amateur ideal by training themselves, taking pride in their naive but vigorous brushwork. (Paul Berry, Modern Masters of Kyoto, p. 216).
"Joyful, the mountains plain and silent.
The valley streams are cool.
People come and go, and the road is hard.
I sing a Chinese poem in my mind."
The painting is dated to April 1919. - Up to 1919 "Kodojin's scrolls were created for his own pleasure and the enjoyment of his friends, but in 1919 Ezaki Gon'ichi, from an old Kyoto family in the Fushimi area, decided to arrange an exhibition to be held at a gallery called Heian Gaho, near the steps to Gion Park in Higashiyama. This was the first time that Kodojin's paintings had been on public view, and they were highly appreciate by those with a taste for literati art." (Stephen Addiss: Old Taoist p. 21.)
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Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944)
dated to April 1919.
Ink on silk
24.8 x 29.2 cm (9 3/4 x 11 1/2 in.)
Mounting 101 x 44 cm (39 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.)
Wooden box