Hanging Scroll, 3 Persimmons (Ink Painting) ー野村 耕

An image of three persimmons in ghostly washes of semi-transparent black by Nomura Ko mounted as a hanging scroll. Nomura Ko had a lifelong interest in Japanese Zen Buddhist practice and its iconography. Persimmons are a profound symbol in Zen Buddhism and Japanese aesthetics, representing transformation, imperfection, and the beauty of the mundane. The most iconic example of this imagery is the 13th-century ink painting "Six Persimmons" by Chinese Chan (Zen) Monk Muqi which is often considered the "poster child" of Zen art. The painting illustrates the Zen ideal of finding the sacred in the ordinary. Its simplistic, spontaneous style (calligraphic brushwork) is meant to be experienced directly, like meditation, rather than analyzed intellectually. The focus on the empty space between the fruits evokes the Zen concept of Mu (nothingness or void). Persimmons are a spiritual metaphor for transformation. The fruit is bitter when unripe (representing ignorance) but becomes sweet and soft as it matures and fully ripens (representing wisdom and enlightenment). The fruits are depicted in autumn, a season of decay, representing transience, yet they are dried and eaten throughout the winter, providing sustenance for the time of rebirth. Ink on paper in a dark border with lacquered wooden rollers, the artists seal is affixed to the back of the scroll. The scroll is 59 x 119 cm (23-1/2 x 47 inches) and is in perfect condition, directly from the family collection.

Nomura Ko (1927–1991) was born in Kyoto and graduated from the Nihonga Department of Kyoto Municipal College of Art in 1948. In 1950 he joined the Pan Real Art Association (until 1965), establishing himself as a significant figure in the postwar avant-garde movement in Japanese-style painting. Initially influenced by Surrealism, he shifted in the later 1950s toward abstraction and collage, employing unconventional materials such as newspaper printing molds, industrial waste, slate, and cement. From the mid 60”s he was driven beyond the framework to be a pioneer in installation exhibition, creating one-time works which allowed the room to be the frame. Through materially driven works and these later three-dimensional and spatial constructions, Nomura fundamentally redefined the physical and conceptual boundaries of Nihonga. His major exhibition history includes the aforementioned Pan Real (1950-1965), the Asahi New Artist Exhibition, the Asahi Selected Exhibition and the Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition. Trends in Contemporary Painting (1963), and Today’s Artists ’64 (1964). From 1978 onward, he participated almost annually in the Ge Exhibition. In 1986, he was featured in A Section of Postwar Nihonga at Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum. A major retrospective, Kyoto Art: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow III – Nomura Ko, was held at Kyoto City Museum of Art in 1989. His work was posthumously included in The Turning Point of Postwar Nihonga at Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts in 1993, confirming his pivotal role in transforming postwar Nihonga. Work by him is held in the collections of The Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Fukui Fine Arts Museum, Kariya City Art Museum, Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, Meguro Museum of Art in Tokyo, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art, Osaka Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka Prefectural 20th Century Art Collection, Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Art, Toyohashi City Museum of Art, Wakayama Museum of Modern Art, Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, Sakuragaoka Museum, The, Kyoto University Art Museum and Kyoto City University of Arts among others.