Landscape with pavilions, one of a pair

海北友松筆　山水図屏風
A sparse landscape is presented in the vast horizontal space of this painting.A few buildings, enclosed by an expansive horizontal fence and accentuated by trees, rise out of the mist. Three mounted figures are passing by this scene. The artist may have been using these proportions to highlight how modest human existence is in comparison to the immensity of nature. Kaiho Yusho's great technical skill can be seen in the combination of gentle ink washes for the rocks, trees, and water with the clear, dark outlines of the buildings and fence.Yusho was born to a samurai family in Omi province. After his father was killed in battle, the young Yusho was entrusted to the monks of the Zen temple Tofukuji in Kyoto. His surviving works are known to have been made when he was in his sixties, so this pair of screens is datable to the late 1500s or early 1600s.