Yukio Lippit

Zen art poses a conundrum. On the one hand, Zen Buddhism emphasizes the concept of emptiness, which among other things asserts that form is empty, that all phenomena in the world are illusory. On the other hand, a prodigious amount of artwork has been created in association with Zen thought and practice. A wide range of media, genres, expressive modes, and strategies of representation have been embraced to convey the idea of emptiness. Form has been used to express the essence of formlessness, and in Japan, this gave rise to a remarkable, highly diverse array of artworks and a tradition of self-negating art. In this volume, Yukio Lippit explores the painting The Gourd and the Catfish (ca. 1413), widely considered one of the most iconic works of Japanese Zen art today. Its subject matter appears straightforward enough: a man standing on a bank holds a gourd in both hands, attempting to capture or pin down the catfish swimming in the stream below. This is an impossible task, a nonsensical act underscored by the awkwardness with which the figure struggles even to hold his gourd. But this impossibility is precisely the point.

Japanese Zen Buddhism and the Impossible Painting

Yoshiaki Shimizu

Japan Society (New York, N.Y.)

Gregory P. A. Levine

Professor of History of Art and Architecture Yukio Lippit

Transmitted from China to Japan in the 13th century, Zen Buddhism not only introduced religious practices but also literature, calligraphy, philosophy, and ink painting to Japanese disciples. This elegant book discusses these fields as they combined to encompass the evocative practice of figure painting within Zen Buddhism in medieval Japan. Focusing on forty-seven exceptional Japanese and Chinese paintings from the 12th to the 16th centuries––which together illustrate the story of the “awakening” of Zen art––the book features essays by distinguished scholars that discuss the life and art within Zen monastic and lay communities. The authors explore the ideology underlying the development of Zen’s own pantheon of characters created to imagine the Buddha’s wisdom and offer fresh insights into the role of the visual arts within Zen practice as it developed in Japan in close dialogue with the Asian continent.

Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan

Awakenings

Rachel Saunders

A sweeping and lavishly illustrated overview of a transformative period in Japanese art-making Japan's Edo period (1615-1868) witnessed the arrival of peace after centuries of warfare, together with economic prosperity, population growth, and increased urbanization. The arts of the period flourished, reflecting and inflecting these fertile conditions. Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art explores this rich visual culture, highlighting works from an unparalleled collection to showcase the masters of various Edo schools and lineages. Beautiful illustrations punctuate the catalogue's essays: Yukio Lippit situates the works within a broad cultural history of early modern Japan, and Rachel Saunders focuses on a single artist, offering fresh perspectives on the late "bird-and-flower paintings" of Sakai Hōitsu. Together, these essays unpack the literary, artistic, and cultural histories that form the basis for how these masterful works would have been received in their time--and for how we can best understand them today. Acomplete catalogue of the Feinberg Collection will be published in July 2020.

Yukio Lippit

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