Wintry Groves and Distant Ranges (in the style of Lan Ying), from the series Landscapes in the Styles of Chinese Masters

Baikan was among the most talented later artists of the Nanga school, those Japanese painters who identified themselves with, and worked in the styles of, Chinese literati painting masters. The skill and visual power of these screens demonstrate that Nanga remained a vibrant and creative painting tradition well into the nineteenth century. This screen, entitled Wintry Groves and Distant Ranges, is after the style of Lan Ying (1585-1664). Although it was common for Nanga painters to copy the styles of past Chinese masters, Baikan's screens are not merely exercises in stylistic imitation. Instead, Baikan has deliberately chosen styles whose characteristics have affinities with the seasons he has depicted. The long, ropy strokes that describe the mountains and the sharper, darker drawing of the trees not only approximate Lan Ying's style, they also effectively convey the visual contrast between bare trees and a snow-softened winter landscape. The harmony between subject and style in these images is also enhanced by the use of colors and ink washes that further contribute to the seasonal moods these landscapes are intended to evoke. These folding screens are of a type called byobu (literally, "protection against the wind"). Originating in China, such screens may initially have been used (as the name indicates) as temporary windbreaks at outdoor gatherings. However, they were probably used more frequently as moveable partitions indoors, where traditional Chinese and Japanese architecture provided large open spaces with relatively few permanent walls. Thus, screens of this variety, which were often created in pairs, could be used as needed to subdivide a room for greater privacy, for convenience, or for aesthetic effect. Because they were quite lightweight and portable, they were easy to rearrange, and because of their flexible hinges, they were easy to store, either folded up or flattened against the wall as decoration. Each of the screens is signed "Baikan Gaku" (Gaku was the artist's given name; Baikan, his sobriquet), and bears two seals of the artist. One of the screens is dated with an unconventional combination of cyclical characters that has not yet been deciphered.