Winter Landscape Screen by Sasaki Rinpu

Byobu or folding screen in two panels, painted on silk in mineral pigments and gofun or clam shell gesso with a winter scene of the moon rising above a snowy hill with a flock of ducks on the marshy edges of a pond. Signed on the lower right side by the artist: Rinpu, and sealed (Sasaki Rinpu, the go or art name of Sasaki Shomatsu, 1884 – 1933).

Born in Shibata in Niigata Prefecture, Sasaki Rinpu studied painting under Terasaki Kogyo at the Tokyo School of Fine Art. He was accepted into the government-sponsored exhibitions beginning with the 2nd Teiten in 1920, and running through the 10th Teiten in 1929. In 1926, he exhibited at the 1st Shotoku Taishi Hosan Bijutsu-ten, also showing at the 2nd exhibition. He passed away on May 28, 1933.

Sasaki Rinpu’s paintings are in the collection of the Niigata Kindai Bijutsukan (Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art).

Rinpu paints a late winter afternoon, with the moon rising cold over a snow-billowed landscape. The sky hangs brown and threatening, pale blue on the horizon. Below, bare branches and weeds surround a flock of huddled ducks. In the foreground, the brackish waters of a marsh dully reflect the darkening sky.

63.5 inches high x 67 inches wide, when opened flat.