Summer Night

Maruyama Ōkyo’s ‘Summer Night’ is a six-panel folding screen from 1784. It uses ink, gold, and silver on paper. The work blends Western naturalism with Eastern decorative design.

The panels depict a serene night scene. The ink washes create a depth and movement that contrast with the static gold and silver embellishments.

Ōkyo founded the Maruyama school, which embraced natural representation. Critics of his time saw this as slavish, but it appealed to lay audiences.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, https://clevelandart.org/art/1973.156.1

https://oolf.net/open-art/okyo-summer-night-1784/