Woodcutters and Fishermen

Woodcutters and Fishermen

Matsumura Goshun

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shijō Street in central Kyoto, where Goshun opened the studio that came to be known as the Shijō school, was also the site of the artist’s residence. Born to a family of officials at the government mint, Goshun studied with the Nanga, or literati school, artist Yosa Buson (1716–1783). Following several years as a Buddhist monk in Ikeda, he joined a group of artists in Kyoto in 1787 to work with Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795), whose school combined traditional methods of Japanese painting with aspects of Western realism and perspective. In this composition, Chinese fishermen and woodcutters, their faces weathered and animated, move through a hazy spring landscape in which a hint of linear perspective indicative of Ōkyo’s influence melds with the lyricism that Goshun absorbed from Buson. The artist chose fishermen to symbolize the purity of the life of the recluse-scholar, following in the tradition of Chinese literati painters.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woodcutters and FishermenWoodcutters and FishermenWoodcutters and FishermenWoodcutters and FishermenWoodcutters and Fishermen

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.