November, 1919 
27 
the Celestial Kingdom. 
The conventions just 
hinted at gave rise to a 
certain distinguishing 
decorative quality that, 
to the Occidental, is the 
chief charm of Japa¬ 
nese art. As his studies 
in the subject carry him 
further toward a truer 
understanding and a 
less superficial appre¬ 
ciation, he discovers 
other qualities. We 
have seen that in early 
centuries the realistic 
was not completely sup¬ 
pressed, even though it 
may have been frowned 
upon by some of the 
schools. Shuzan wrote 
of this matter in 1777, 
when Japanese artists 
were breaking with 
some of the conventions 
of the older traditions: 
“Amongst pictures is a 
kind called naturalistic, 
in which it is consid¬ 
ered p r o p er that 
grasses, fishes, insects, 
etc., should bear exact 
resemblance to nature. 
This is a special style 
and must not be depreciated, but as 
its object is merely to show the 
form, neglecting the rules of Art, 
it is commonplace and without 
taste. In ancient pictures the study 
of the art of outline and of the 
laws of taste were respected.” 
Flower and Bird Subjects 
Among the color-prints of Japan 
that have, of late years, become fa¬ 
miliar to everyone, and which are 
eagerly sought in fine examples by 
collectors, are the Flower and Bird 
subjects, called Kwa-Cho. From 
earliest times in the art history of 
Japan, Kwa-Cho subjects had at¬ 
tracted native painters, following 
the masters of the T’ang Dynasty 
in China and later those of Sung 
and Yuen. The Kwa-Cho of the 
Chinese masters had already 
mi 
growing 
Cho 
Many Kwa-Cho prnits were made to illustrate poems on Hokku. The Japanese are very 
particidar about this as they are about the symbolism of the prints. Wild geese, such as 
those shown in this Kwa-Cho print, Wild Geese Flying Across the Moon, symbolize caution. 
It is by Keisei Yeisen 
reached its zenith be¬ 
tween the years 907- 
960, so the Japanese 
artists had ready at 
hand models for their 
inspiration. If the 
Greek Zeuxis painted 
grapes so real that birds 
pecked at them, the 
Japanese could too. 
Growing Popularity 
With the invention of 
the color-print and its 
vogue, Kwa- 
color-prints be¬ 
came popular and in 
great demand among 
the people. The aris¬ 
tocratic class, so far as 
is known, looked upon 
the color-print as a vul¬ 
gar makeshift for their 
own pictorial art, that 
of the accepted painters. 
This is difficult for one 
who has not studied 
Japanese history to un¬ 
derstand, so lovely do 
these color-prints ap¬ 
pear to us. It is, in¬ 
deed, only within the 
last few years that color- 
prints of any sort have 
come to be collected by the J apa- 
nese themselves. In 1692 or three, 
Kaempfer brought a number of 
Chinese Flower-and-Bird prints 
from Japan, which indicates that 
prints of this sort must have been 
known to the Japanese at an early 
date, though it was many years be¬ 
fore they themselves produced any¬ 
thing comparable with them. These 
prints are in the Print Collection 
of the British Museum, as are also 
a number of Chinese Kwa-Cho 
color-prints of the Kang-Hsi Peri¬ 
od (1662-1722). While these 
Chinese prints are interesting his¬ 
torically and of great rarity, they 
do not approach the later Japa¬ 
nese Kwa-Cho and have a certain 
arbitrary color arrangement from 
which they probably never departed. 
(Continued on page 62) 
Swimming Duck 
and Snowy Bam¬ 
boo. One of Hi¬ 
roshige’s most 
notable K w a - 
Cho prints 
Bird and Cam¬ 
ellia. After a 
Kwa-Cho by Hi¬ 
roshige (1797- 
1858), the mas¬ 
ter nature artist 
White Heron and 
Iris. By Hiroshige. 
The gauffrage on 
the heron’s wings 
is beautif icily 
worked out 
Bird and Iris. Modern 
print, unidentified 
(Right) Crane and 
Snowy Branch. 
From a 
d e si 
noted 
sushika 
