Artist Birthday: Nōguchi Shōhin

The painting style that evolved during the Southern Song Dynasty is considered by scholars to have been the classic example of Chinese monochromatic painting, particularly the "literati" style. Noguchi emulated the literati (scholar amateur) artist style, enlarging the forms and exaggerating brush work in her forms.

Artist birthday for 25th February: Nōguchi Shōhin (1847-1917 Japan)

Shōhin Nōguchi (no relation to the American sculptor) was an accomplished woman artist in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Japan.

Mountains in Autumn, 1910, ink and colors on silk mounted as a hanging scroll, painting -- 189.2 x 86.4 cm Image © 2025 Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA-9200)

Unlike many Meiji Nan-ga painters, there are few if any hints at the influence of Western art in this landscape. Her use of mist to define depth was executed in the traditional manner of transparent washes of diluted ink. Adhering to the Southern Song formula for a successful composition, the forms in Noguchi's landscape form a zig-zag "path" for the eye to follow so that the viewer can enjoy the experience of mentally walking through the landscape. A characteristic feature of literati painting was the inclusion of a poem, either by the artist or quoted from a revered ancient poet. 

The poem in this painting reads (as per PMA): A waterfall flows in amongst the tress and gushes forth again, / The cliffs and rocks have a lingering purity. / With maple leaves as vivid as brocade, / The autumn mountains return to their bright luster.

The forced opening of Japan to Western trade in the 1850s and the collapse of the Tokugawa dictatorship in 1868 led to the Meiji "Restoration" (1868-1912), in which military leaders attempted to put power back with the emperor. The Meiji leaders wanted to "westernize" Japan and turn it into an industrialized society like the West so that Japan could become a major power.

After the opening of Japan to the West, there developed in the late 1870s the yō-ga school of painting, literally "western style." This meant not only Western styles were imitated, but also the use of Western media such as oils and watercolors. Almost simultaneously there arose a group of painters who strove to maintain the traditions of the Kanō school, literati landscape painting, and Ukiyo-e. This group was known as the Nihon-ga, or "Japanese style painting" school. Many of the artists of the period executed works in both styles.

One of the many styles that emerged, out of a renewed interest by Japanese artists in Chinese monochromatic painting of the Southern Song (1127-1279/1280) period was called Nan-ga or "southern style". Shōhin Nōguchi was a leading female artist of the late Edo (1615-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods. Born in Osaka, she studied painting from a young age. She was a keen follower of the Nihon-ga movement, and concentrated in her works the southern style of painting, from which she received much fame and acclamation. Such was her fame that she was the first ever woman artist to become an "imperial household artist" in 1904.