NAKAMURA HOCHU (D.1819)

The love of nature runs through all of Japanese art and literature, and for the painter and poet it is the passing of the seasons that evokes the strongest emotions. The fans are painted with various flowers. In some of the leaves, Hochu skillfully employed the tarashikomi technique, with drips of color added to still-wet pigment for a puddled effect. Working in the "boneless" style, without outlines, he painted the leaves in various shades of green.
For other fan paintings by Hochu, see Lisa Rotundo-MCord, ed., An Enduring Vision: 17th to 20th Century Painting from the Gitter-Yelen Collection (New Orleans : New Orleans Museum of Art, 2002), pls. 88-89.