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Hawk and Pines |
context: painting > Zen painting > Artists
Sesson Shukei c.1504-c.1589
They didn't have any professional contact, as the dates make obvious, but Sesson is considered by many to be Sesshu's real successor, more than any of his pupils or more slavish adherents. However, I think I like Sesson for other reasons - yes, he has the mastery of the wide range of brushstrokes, and the brains to use the right ones for the effect he's after, but there is an emotional tension in his work that is rare in Zen art, and in Japanese art in general. The hawk on this page is a magnificent example: no movement, but dangerous action inherent in every detail of the hawk - and even of the pine on which it is perched. I think the painters of the world have looked for this effect in paintings of animals countless times, and I don't think anyone has ever matched this.