Suiboku-ga
The beauty of Japanese ink paintings
Suiboku-ga, also called Sumi-e,
Japanese monochrome ink painting, a technique first developed in China
during the Sung dynasty (960–1274) and taken to Japan by Zen Buddhist
monks in the mid-14th century. Although generally content to copy
Chinese models, early Japanese artists also excelled in the field of
portraiture and figure painting. Suiboku-ga reached its height in the
Muromachi period (1338–1573) with such masters as Sesshū Tōyō, whose
landscapes were uniquely Japanese, and Sesson Shūkei, who worked in the
far northeast of Japan. The bold use of black ink strokes and washes
allowed suiboku-ga artists to eliminate from their paintings all but the
essential character of their subject, an aim closely related to the
pursuit of Zen Buddhism. Although suiboku-ga was popular well into the
Tokugawa period (1603–1867), it soon lost its spontaneity and became
formalistic in style.