"Mikazuki" Kukai's View; Crescent Moon 朏
Ken Matsubara, Japanese, born 1948
2017
Bengara iron oxide, torinoko gampi washi paper, soil tonoko powder, mica, bond, Japanese wood glue, sumi charcoal, white gold leaf
Overall: 70 7/8 × 187 × 13/16 in. (180 × 475 × 2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Evelyn A. and William B. Jaffe 2015 Fund and the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund
© Ken Matsubara
2024.21a-d
Geography
Place Made: Japan, East Asia, Asia
Period
21st century
Object Name
Painting
Research Area
Painting
Not on view
Label
Across the four panels of this folding screen, Ken Matsubara portrays a grandiose seascape with a silver-glowing crescent moon and breaking waves. The artist created this work after a two-year residency at Mikurodo cave in Southeast Shikoku, Japan, the same location where the famed Buddhist priest Kūkai gained enlightenment in the 9th century. At the cave, Matsubara sought unification with nature by aligning himself with Kūkai’s thoughts and experiences. This landscape immerses us in a moment of silence and pause, reminding us of how little we truly know about ourselves and our place in the universe.
From the 2024 exhibition Attitude of Coexistence: Non-Humans in East Asian Art, curated by Haely Chang, Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art
Exhibition History
Attitude of Coexistence: Non-humans in East Asian Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 5-June 29, 2025.
Provenance
The artist, Nasu, Tochigi, Japan: Ippodo Gallery Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, September 2019; Ippodo Gallery, New York, New York, September 2019; sold to present collection, 2024.
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