Waterfall 滝 | Kishi Renzan 岸連山 | 1805–1859

Kishi Renzan is one of the most important figures of the Kishi school, as he was adopted by the school’s founder, the famous tiger painter Kishi Koma (Ganku), and after Ganku’s death he continued to lead the Kishi school alongside Ganku’s son, Gantai. Together with Gantai, he painted the ‘Room of the Wild Geese’ in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.

 In many respects, Renzan was a superior painter; in numerous works, including this one, he developed a highly individual brushwork style. The manner in which he painted the leaves in front of the waterfall is entirely free – one senses no ‘school-imposed conventions’ here. Indeed, the depiction of the waterfall itself is also unusual. Usually, only a single imposing cascade is depicted, intended to convey the incomprehensibility of a divine manifestation (many waterfalls hold a sacred status in shrine precincts). Kishi, however, paints various stages of the falling water. It rushes over monumental rock ledges, the pictorial rendering of which is at least as impressive as the waterfalls themselves.

 The original mounting is skilfully designed, with very narrow margins on either side. This lends the depiction of the thundering masses of water even greater pathos. A fine detail is the golden water-runners on the brocade strips above and below the picture (ichimonji).

The signature and seal are authentic.