Ravens in autumn | Yamamoto Shunkyo 山元春挙 | 1872-1933

Yamamoto Shunkyō is one of those important artists of the early 20th century who enjoyed a wealthy clientele. He owned a villa with a studio in Otsu, right on Lake Biwa, complete with a magnificent Japanese garden. However, Yamamoto Shunkyō has faded from public view, not because his art isn't appreciated, but because he had a—now unpopular—clearly discernible predilection for large formats and monumental, grandiose formal concepts. Shunkyō deserves a reassessment that does justice to his true position in Japanese art history, for every painting one finds at auction or in an art dealer's shop often astonishes with its high quality.  

This painting, with its length, requires a room with a ceiling height of approximately 3 meters. (Such high ceilings were once only found in the homes of the very wealthy.) Shunkyō, however, fits this format perfectly. The main scene, with the bare trees, occupies about a third of the picture – below is a broad strip of white snow, and above the treetops, ravens frolic in the snowy sky. They perch in the foreground on the prominent tree, while above, they fly off in groups, their wings shrinking into the snowy sky. This creates a sense of depth that we also strongly perceive in the trees, which seem to recede into the hazy background. This emphasis on depth through the ravens and trees achieves a natural balance with the painting's height.

The overall mood is immediately apparent: it is winter, there are no colors, melancholy prevails, exemplified by the two trees in the foreground, standing isolated and at an angle in the snow; their soaring crowns convey a sense of longing. The only signs of life are the ravens, but they will all soon take flight and leave the desolate scene.