Hara Museum ARC

Featured in this exhibition are selections of calligraphy and painting from the Hara Rokuro Collection that embody bunga, the quality of refinement and elegance found in classical poetry and literature. These include a series of four hanging scrolls, Landscape of Four Seasons by Xu Lin (Ming dynasty), one of which depicts the story of Wang Xizhi, the Sage of Calligraphy, accompanied by a seven-character poem on the state of mind of a hermit. Assembly at the Orchid Pavilion, a painting in the style of the Kano school, shows Wang Xizhi’s famed poetry gathering of distinguished literati at the Orchid Pavilion. Reiso-dai is a collection of model handwriting. Such collections, highly popular during the Edo period, consisted of fragments of sutras and poetry (kohitsu) dating from before the early-modern period) assembled together in the form of hanging scrolls or folding books. We hope visitors will take this opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of bunga through these and other early-modern masterworks from the Hara Rokuro Collection.

Featured Works
Traditional Art: Landscape based on an old Chinese anecdote “Assembly at the Orchid Pavilion” (paintings used for wallpaper and fusuma at Nikko-in Mi’idera temple), attributed to Kano school, four hanging scrolls, Momoyama – Edo priod / Landscape of four seasons, XuLin, four hanging scrolls, Ming dynasty / Book of model handwriting, called “Reiso-dai”, Nara – Muromachi period and others
Contemporary Art: Jae-Eun Choi, Homage to Mozart, 1988 / Anish Kapoor, Void, 1992 and others