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Handwritten Letter
Soga Shohaku (Japanese, 1730-1781)
c. 1754
- Medium
- Two hanging scrolls, ink on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 121.3 × 54.5 cm (47 13/16 × 21 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Japan
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Through prior gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Nickerson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Japanese painter Soga Shōhaku was and remains well-known for his artwork, but his personal life is largely mysterious. These scrolls feature the only surviving letters by the artist, and one includes his only known self-portrait. The artist is corresponding with a friend, Shinsuke Konishi (1738–1807). In the first letter, written on New Year’s Day, Shōhaku asks Shinsuke for sake and art supplies. In the second, he thanks his friend for the gift with a poem and a self-portrait. The drawing shows Shōhaku drinking sake next to a large barrel of it, topped with a plum branch for the New Year.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
