Hirai Baisen (1889–1969)
Waterfall in Early Autumn
Japan, 1930s
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Gift of Terry Welch, 2021 (2021-03-066)
A comparison of this painting with Baisen’s Autumn from around a decade earlier reveals several differences. In Autumn, the artist still maintained basic narrative elements of traditional landscape painting such as two travelers along a path, although the travelers were already so tiny, they were easily overlooked.
Here, Baisen has eliminated narrative elements altogether. He further defies expectation by placing the waterfall in the lower third of the composition, where it is largely obscured by trees. The trees are made from densely saturated ink washes that convey the idea of being drenched by spray from the waterfall. Indeed, the entire painting is built up from different colored washes, becoming an experiment in the layering of colors. Baisen was known for the technique, and early in his career he was praised for introducing this innovation—as it can be seen in paintings from the 1910s–1920s such as Autumn—into Japanese-style painting. In his later work he moved increasingly toward abstraction, culminating after WWII in examples such as Temple also in this exhibition.