Ju (Big Tree)

Established in Japan in the thirteenth century, Zen has influenced nearly all of Japan’s artistic and cultural traditions. Japanese architecture, garden design, literature and drama, music, ceramics, painting, and calligraphy all embody elements of Zen aesthetics and philosophy.

Morita Shiryu, a contemporary Japanese calligrapher, applied Zen principles and aesthetics both to his process of artistic creation and to the form and subject of his works. The theme of this four-panel lacquer screen is "ju," the pictograph for “big tree.” Morita works in a variety of media; he was known especially for his large screens, in which he combined the free expression of the brush with the rich materials of gold and black lacquer. The artist infused his subjects with the essential nature of the thing represented. In this case, the pictograph for the tree sprawls like an old, gnarled pine across the black plane. Through the calligraphy's dynamic brushwork and idiosyncratic character, Morita captured both the pictorial root and the true essence of the ideogram.

Keenly aware of both the history of East Asian calligraphy and the development of Abstract Expressionism in the West, he sought to transcend the barriers between the cultures in his own works and eventually produced a new and truly international expression.

In keeping with Zen tradition, Morita meditated before creating. Then he painted the character spontaneously, the flexible brush responding to every movement of his fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder, and body. To inscribe the pictograph on this screen, Morita used two very large brushes held together as one.