White cat under a plum tree

Under the salmon pink sky at dawn of early spring, white Japanese apricot is about to open. Shunso (1874-1911) skillfully gradated the intensity of the ink to add perspective to the bark and branches of the old tree with knots on its thick trunk, and the young tree with supple branches stretching high. Shunso often painted cats in his short life. “Black Cat” (property of the Eisei-Bunko Museum) painted in his later life is especially well known. He painted a white cat in this work. Although it is early spring and Japanese apricot is starting, the way the cat curls up showing small part of front paws indicates that the chilliness is still in the air. The patiently drawn white fur is dazzling, and the frigid eyes gazing at a point give something like divinity to the expression. The whiteness of plum flowers and the cat, and the fresh grass on the ground brilliantly enhance the brief dawn filling in the air.