Page:Brinkley - The Art of Japan, vol. 1.djvu/25

Rh factors that belong to this context, factors which must be recognised by every one desiring to appreciate Japanese art, namely, a hand singularly supple and sensitive, a brush manipulated with skill and strength beyond any Occidental standard, and an hereditary perception of quality in touch with which only an ideographist can fully sympathise.

The brush (fude) itself is not an ideal contrivance for artistic purposes. It is a stiff-haired pencil which, in ordinary hands, presents a difficulty to be overcome rather than a helpful instrument. This comment may be appropriately extended to the general question of the Japanese artist’s materials. It is said that unless one has actually worked with those materials, the difficulty of manipulating them can not be realised. The rapidly absorptive quality of the paper, as prepared for use, necessitates damping of the whole surface in order to apply a wash and, of course, after the damping process has been repeated three or four times, the size of the paper perishes, or the preparation of the silk disappears, if silk is employed. Moreover, the colour first applied is assimilated so largely that unless it be opaque there is little possibility of working over it even when dry: it seems to swallow up all shades which are not very much darker than itself. Practically, therefore, one wash is the limit. On the dry paper, too, the work to be done must be done quickly and with sweeping, finished strokes: once the brush leaves the paper, there is a hard line without recourse. Correction is practically impossible, and the result of every brushful of colour must, therefore, be foreseen to a nicety. On the other hand, the paper and silk—especially the latter—of the Japanese artist repay these technical difficulties by the delicate softness that they impart to a colour, and, in the case of silk, exceptional effects are produced by applying the pigments at the back of the drawing so that they show through the material.

There is another feature of Japanese pictorial art which, though apparently little appreciated by Western connoisseurs, must really be regarded as fundamental. It is that