Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to main navigation

Waterfall in Broad Ink Strokes

Kakemono, unique work, 162 x 36 cm
Product number: 5881

Sold – no longer available

This piece was handmade by Kishi Ganku and was a one-of-a-kind work. It cannot be reordered and will never exist in this form again. The page stays online as part of our archive.

You might like these pieces

Details about the sold piece

  • Height 162 cm
  • Width 36 cm
  • Item Type Kakemono
  • Jikusaki Bone
  • Material Honshi Silk
  • Period of Creation Shôwa (1926–1989)
  • Technique Hand-Painted
  • Unique Work Yes
Signature / Stamp:
Kishi Ganku
Sold

No longer available

Description

Broad, flowing strokes of ink plunge into the picture from the upper left like masses of water, forming a powerful waterfall that carves its way between dark rock formations. Fine washes and shifting shades of gray create the impression of spray and movement, while the right half of the picture remains deliberately empty, giving the eye room to linger – a compositional approach typical of classical Japanese landscape painting.

The work bears the signature and seal of the painter Kishi Ganku and was hand-painted on silk during the Shôwa period. The reduced, almost abstract pictorial language recalls the Suiboku tradition, in which a few, deliberately placed brushstrokes suffice to make the forces of nature perceptible.

As a hanging scroll in the classic kakemono format, the motif can easily be displayed in the tokonoma, where it conveys the calm and power of a Japanese mountain stream. For lovers of restrained ink painting, this hand-painted unique work is an evocative addition to any collection.

Frequently asked

No – as a one-of-a-kind piece it exists in a single example only.
We would be glad to look for one. Get in touch with the details of the object you are looking for and we will see what we can do.
Because the two pieces of information speak about different things: the period designation describes the object – support, colors, condition – while the signature reflects which name appears on the painting. In most cases there is no attempt at deception behind this, but rather Japanese painting training: copying from workshop models was the curriculum for centuries, an utsushi is regarded as a bow to the teacher, workshops signed with the master's name, and artist names were passed down within a school. Such a hanging scroll is therefore not a forgery, but a hand-painted one-of-a-kind that continues the formal language of its school – just not the work of the famous name, and priced accordingly. We explain this in detail in the guide Why does a kakemono often bear the signature of an artist long deceased?.