Geese Over a Beach
Maruyama Okyo åå±±å¿æ (1733-1795)
18th century
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1898.143
Tags
Charles Lang Freer collectionEdo period (1615 - 1868)JapanJapanese Artautumngooselandscape
About this artwork
In Japanese and Chinese painting and poetry, geese represent autumn. Their annual migrations also symbolize an unsettled existence. This painting was formerly mounted on four sliding doors set in tracks between two rooms. This portrayal of two geese flying out to sea shows a dramatic and expansive realism that comes from the artist's familiarity with techniques that included some methods of depicting perspective and volume, which Okyo learned from studying European art.