Title: Pine Trees
Creator: Hasegawa Touhaku
Date Created: Azuchi-Momoyama period, 16th century
Physical Dimensions: w345.1 x h155.1 cm (Each)
Object Title: 松林図屏風
Object Date: 安土桃山時代・16世紀 Medium(Japanese): 紙本墨画
Artist Name: 長谷川等伯筆
Type: Painting
External Link: http://www.emuseum.jp/detail/100151
Medium: Ink on paper
With just a singular color of ink, Tohaku creates a strong sense of depth and lighting within the painting, with mountains in the background and sharp dark pine trees in the foreground, obscured by the fog that is represented by a lack of ink and lack of focus around the edges of the trees. This way, the fog is not drawn, but represented by negative space, a lack of ink that fades into the trees and creates the visual illusion of something out of nothing, and this simple dual experience of fog and mountain/tree space is very reminiscent of wabi (“elegant simplicity”).
References:
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pine-trees-hasegawa-touhaku/HgFQR4hgzPorXg?hl=en
