West Lake
Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723–1776)
mid-1700s
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 58 x 133 cm (22 13/16 x 52 3/8 in.); Mounted: 170.5 x 140.3 cm (67 1/8 x 55 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
West Lake near Hangzhou, China, has been home to revered poets who immortalized it in their poetry. Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772–846) lived in its vicinity, and Song dynasty poet Lin Bu (967–1028) led a reclusive life on Solitary Hill near the lake. Landscape paintings of West Lake gained in popularity in Japan as early as the 1400s. The distinctive, arched bridges connecting small islands in the lake identify the subject. Ike Taiga was among the first generation of Japanese artists to emulate Chinese scholars who painted as amateurs and gifted their work to friends and colleagues.
