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Brush, ink and bare paper

Zen Ink

Ink painting from Japan's Zen temples, and from the workshops that carried it on. Mountains left half in mist, gibbons in the trees, a cat asleep on bare paper, Bodhidharma looking straight back at you. Sesshū, Sesson, Hakuin and the monks around them worked almost entirely in black, and left most of the sheet alone.

18 pictures, pick one to build

Dreaming Cat Hōzōbō Shinkai, mid-17th century Portrait of Bodhidharma Hakuin Ekaku, mid-18th century Landscape of the Four Seasons (Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers) Sōami, early 16th century Daoist Master Fei Zhangfang Sesson Shūkei, ca. 1555–61 Monk Zhaozhou and Dog, with Geese and Mynah Unkoku Tōeki, first half 17th century Zhou Maoshu Admiring Lotuses Kaihō Yūsetsu, mid-17th century Landscape in the Moonlight Yōgetsu, probably 18th or 19th century “Tenmangū,” Sugawara no Michizane as Tenjin Traveling to China Sengai Gibon, early 19th century Landscape with Pavilion Kenkō Shōkei 賢江祥啓, 1478–80 Pavilion on Mountain Stream Sesshū Tōyō 雪舟等楊, 17th century Gibbons in a Landscape Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継, ca. 1570 The Tale of Genji Kaihō Yūsetsu, 17th century Kannon in a Lotus Pond Hakuin Ekaku, 1767 Bird Kenkō Shōkei Landscape Sōami, 17th century Kingfisher and Bamboo Sesshū Tōyō 雪舟等楊, 19th century Kannon by a Lotus Pond Hakuin Ekaku, 1750s Moon amid Clouds Seisetsu Shūcho, early 19th century