Mochizuki Gyokkei 望月玉渓 (1874-1938)

Mochizuki Gyokkei, the fifth heir of the Gyokusen painting tradition (also known as the "Kyōto School"), was a master painter of flower-and-bird paintings (kachō-ga), but also of landscapes, as can be seen in this fine example of a spring landscape. In a mountainous setting, indicated by a large massif in the distant background, he composed a rural spring landscape with traditional Japanese farmhouses among blooming plum trees. The illusionary depth of the painting is created not only by the mountains, but also by the tiny birds flying toward them. As small waves gently lace the lake shore, one can almost feel the soft breeze touching the blossoming trees, causing their petals to fly in the wind. 

Mochizuki Gyokkei has succeeded his father Mochizuki Gyokusen 望月玉泉 (1834-1913), an official painter of the imperial palace. From him, Gyokkei inherited his precise brushwork through his training in the fifth-generation family style, which goes back to his great-grandfather Mochizuki Gyokusen (1692–1755), who founded the family studio that combined elements of Chinese painting of the Kishi school with influences from Shen Nanping and Japanese painting of the Maruyama-Shijō school as well as Western painting techniques.

See other works by Gyokkei here.

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