川合玉堂
漁村夕照
昭和10（1935）年頃 絹本彩色・額装 65.0×91.0cm
Gyokudo Kawai
Fishing Village at Sunset
Around 1935 (Showa 10) Color on silk, framed 65.0 × 91.0 cm
夕日が降り注ぐ海に幾艘も浮かぶ舟。帆を下ろしたそれらの舟は漁を終えて帰ってきたところでしょうか、夕暮れの大気の広がりが海辺の村を包み、情緒あふれる風景が描き出されています。本作は、中国で伝統的に画題となってきた｢瀟湘八景（しょうしょうはっけい）｣（中国･湖南省の瀟水と湘江の合流する辺りの景勝。山水画を通して日本にも広まった）の一つ｢漁村夕照｣を画題としています。手前の濃墨で描かれた松林は、絹本独特の柔らかな滲みによって風景に溶け込んでいます。夕暮れに染まる山々や遠景に柔らかく広がる暈しは玉堂が若い頃に学んだ円山四条派の影響でしょうか、手前の松林から斜め奥へと続く構図は、宋の画家･馬遠に学んだ玉堂の特徴の一つであり、大きく取られた余白は雄大な自然の広がりを感じさせます。
Several boats float on the sea bathed in the setting sun. These boats, with their sails lowered, seem to have returned from fishing. The expansive evening atmosphere envelops the seaside village, creating a picturesque scene. This work takes its theme from "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang," a traditional Chinese subject depicting the scenic area around the confluence of the Xiao and Xiang rivers in Hunan Province, which also became popular in Japanese landscape painting. The pine forest in the foreground, drawn with dark ink, blends into the landscape through the soft blurring unique to silk paintings. The mountains dyed in the evening glow and the softly spreading blur in the background reflect the influence of the Maruyama-Shijo school, which Gyokudo studied in his youth. The composition, extending diagonally from the pine forest in the foreground to the back, is characteristic of Gyokudo's learning from the Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan. The large blank spaces evoke the vastness of nature.