In the style of Ike Taiga

Bamboo in Mist

probably 19th or 20th century

Japan

Ink and slight color on paper

Image only, H. 52 1/2 x W. 22 7/8 in. (133.4 x 58.1 cm)

Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, 1979.215

Several questions exist regarding this Japanese ink painting that is signed Kasho. Kasho is one of the artist-names used by Ike Taiga (1723 - 1776), one of the most important painters of the literati school (nanga) in Japan. While the thin, elegant brush strokes used to paint the bamboo and the interplay of light and dark shades of ink are typical of Taiga's oeuvre, a lack of movement in the treatment of bamboo stalks and a flatness in the depiction of the leaves, as well as a general lack of exuberance and sketchiness that are hallmarks of Taiga's style, differentiate this painting from other works of the painter.