Family Enjoying the Evening Cool by Kusumi Morikage
Family Enjoying the Evening Cool
by Kusumi Morikage
Edo period, 17th century
Two-fold screen, ink and light color on paper
Height 149.7 cm; Width 166.2 cm
(Tokyo National Museum)
The dates of Kusumi Morikage's birth and death are unknown. He was one of the star pupils of the artist Kano Tan'yu, but is reputed to have broken off relations with his colleagues. The exact reason for this is not known, but it may be supposed that he was dissatisfied with the Kano school's loss of its former creativity. He became an "independent" painter who found fresh subject matter in the unpretentious life-style of Japan's farmers and in the natural environment. Here we see a family resting beneath a trellis of bottle gourds (yugao). A bit of white moon is seen in the upper left. The artist is known for several works drawn with a similar plebeian sensitivity.
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