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Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms

by Dr. Hannah Sigur
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)
Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)

A landscape transformed

In Red and White Plum Blossoms, Ogata Kôrin transforms a very simple landscape theme—two flowering trees on either side of a brook—into a dream vision. Executed in black ink and blotchy washes of gem-like mineral color on a pair of folding screens, the image seems both abstract and realistic at the same time. Its background, a subtle grid of gold leaf, denies any sense of place or time and imbues everything with an ethereal glow. The stream’s swelling metallic curls and spirals are a make-believe of flowing water, and its sharply tapered serpentine contour lines angle the picture plane in an unnatural upward tilt. The trunks of the trees are nothing more than pools of mottled color without so much as an outline. These forms and spaces appear flat to the eye. Yet the artist's intimate knowledge of how a plum tree grows can be seen in their writhing forms and tangle of shoots and branches.
Right side, red blossoms (detail), Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)
Right side, red blossoms (detail), Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)

Enveloping us in spring

In planning its imagery Kôrin closely considered the function of the folding screen within the traditional Japanese interior. The two sections would have been positioned separately yet near enough to each other to define an enclosed space. At 156 cm (or approximately 67 inches) in height, they towered over the average Japanese person of the day. Kôrin depicted only the lower parts of the trees, as if viewed from very near: the tree with red blossoms thrusts upward from the ground and out of sight; the white pushes leftward out of view and then, two slender branches appear to spring back diagonally downward from the top corner and jab upward. With each screen standing hinged at its central fold, a viewer experiences these exaggerated two-dimensional images in three dimensions. Stopping us in our tracks by confounding logic with this combination of pure design and intimate naturalism, Kôrin envelops us in the pulsing vitality of early spring.

Rinpa, or “School of Kôrin”

An acknowledged masterpiece painted toward the end of his life, Red and White Plum Blossoms exemplifies a style that for many epitomizes Japanese art. It has profoundly impacted modernism in the West, most famously in the work of Gustav Klimt. Since the 19th century this combination of abstraction and naturalism, monumental presence, dynamism and gorgeous sensuality has commonly been referred to as Rinpa, or “School of Kôrin.” But Kôrin neither originated this aesthetic, nor presided over a formal school; more accurately he stood at the forefront of a loose movement of like-minded artists and designers in various media. Rinpa first appeared a century earlier, in the brilliant relationship of a gifted calligrapher, connoisseur, and intellectual named Hon’ami Kôetsu, and an equally gifted painter of fans and screens, Tarawaya Sôtatsu, who created works that aimed to satisfy the luxurious tastes of 17th century Kyoto’s aristocrats and wealthy merchants (below).
Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Waves at Matsushima, c. 1600–40, right side of a pair of six-panel folding screens, ink, color, gold, and silver on paper (Freer Gallery of Art)
Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Waves at Matsushima, c. 1600–40, right side of a pair of six-panel folding screens, ink, color, gold, and silver on paper (Freer Gallery of Art)
Entranced by a few of Sôtatsu’s paintings that he saw in the collection of a patron, Kôrin taught himself the techniques: images pared to bare essentials and then dramatically magnified, emphasis on the interplay of forms, colors, and textures, and unconventional adaptations of ink painting methods. These methods included tarashikomi, or dilute washes of color blended while very wet, and mokkotsu, or “bonelessness,” which creates forms without exterior outlines. Some scholars now use terms such as Sôtatsu-Kôrinha, Kôetsuha, and Kôetsu-Kôrinha rather than Rinpa, in recognition of its actual origins. Yet Kôrin is owed a great debt as the one who revived a dazzling creative approach from obscurity and whose vibrant works firmly established his own reputation.
Left side, white plum blossoms (detail), Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)
Left side, white plum blossoms (detail), Ogata Kōrin, Red and White Plum Blossoms, Edo period, 18th century, pair of two-fold screens, color and gold leaf on paper, 156 ×172.2 cm each, National Treasure (MOA Museum in Atami, Japan)
A profligate who squandered his family’s enormous wealth, Kôrin benefitted from the wide design experience afforded by its position as one of Kyoto’s most distinguished producers and purveyors of fine textiles. This he combined with painting studies in one of Japan’s preeminent studios. His numerous works in this sophisticated style thus encompass many media, formats and subjects—paintings in color and ink on large screens, small albums, fans, hanging and hand scrolls, printed books, lacquers, ceramics and even textiles.
Initially inspired by Japanese classical literature, the Rinpa movement’s attention soon extended to themes from nature, including Chinese motifs that may have influenced Kôrin’s choice of plum trees for this painting. Looking now at the impact of his work from over three centuries ago, it seems incredible that a vision so dramatic, luxurious and radical could ever have fallen into obscurity.
Essay by Dr. Hannah Sigur

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  • leafers seed style avatar for user Cheng Liu
    was the work created for a private place
    (9 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user ms.levknecht
    Could this work be considered both Rinpa Style as well as Yamoto-E as a "Japanese painting"?
    (1 vote)
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    • boggle green style avatar for user Hannah Georgeson
      I don't know a whole lot, I am currently in Art History learning about this. But just from a little of research, Yamoto-E as you said, means "Japanese Painting" and could be an umbrella term for art styles such as Rinpa School. But it seems like there some different visual characteristics between the two. Yamoto-E is assocatied with "...thick pigments, large bands of clouds that obscure and divide space, and a technique known as fukinuki yatai [roofs of buildings are removed to provide a glimpse into the interior from above]" (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). I also noticed that in Yamoto-E there are people painted in the works. Where Rinpa School is associated with "...softly contoured landscapes, emphasis on themes drawn from poetry, and primarily secular subject matter" (Honolulu Museum of Art) and "applied in a highly decorative and patterned manner" (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Rinpa School doesn't just connect to paintings either, it expanded to textiles, lacquerwares, and ceramics. But the Honolulu Museum of Art also mentioned that Rinpa is characterized as a revitalization of Yamato-E.

      So I suppose it depends. I wouldn't say that this work specifically would be both (just my opinion). And If we are looking at the time period, it wouldn't line up (not necessarily important but I thought to mention it). The artist of this work - Ogata Kōrin - came apox. 50 years after Rinpa School (style was from late 12th to 17th century) and was then consolidated by him (Kōrin) and his brother. And Yamoto-E first developed in 794–1185. The Khan Academy article also mentioned that Ogata Kōrin was inspired by Rinpa School style of artwork. So if this work did fall under Yamoto-E, it was unintentional (I think).

      I'm not sure. But if the info I found answers your question then I am glad to have helped.
      (1 vote)