Snipes under Hibiscus 鴫二羽 | Gotō Kōho 五島耕畝 | 1882-1958

Gotō Kōho is one of those serious nihonga painters who underwent rigorous training and subsequently distinguished themselves through incredible conscientiousness in the practice of their craft. Nihonga means "Japanese painting" and, since the late 19th century, has been an aesthetic movement within the ever-increasing stylistic diversity of Western and Chinese painting styles, whose motifs are oriented toward Japanese identity. However, the best nihonga painters were repeatedly tempted to break the traditional motif framework.

Here, Gotō Kōho combines snipe with hibiscus. Both the animal and the plant are native to Japan, but the combination and selection of motifs are unusual. The artist was likely fascinated by the pink color of the blossoms and sought to balance the color accent with the brown tones of the birds and the various greens of the leaves. The picture is executed with exquisite finesse in every detail and exudes a poetry that may seem somewhat old-fashioned today, but whose charm is hard to resist.