Sumi-e - painting techniques

In Chinese and Japanese painting, there is a type of brush painting known as ink and wash painting or, in Japanese, sumi-e. Ink painting uses black ink exclusively, in various concentrations, similarly to East Asian calligraphy. In the past centuries, artists themselves used to prepare their own ink with a grinding stone and an ink stick, but nowadays such materials can easily be found in specialized stores. Sticks are, more often than not, made of bamboo or pine ashes. Brushes used for wash paintings are very similar, if not identical, to those used for calligraphy. They too are have bamboo sticks, while the hair is horse, goat, ox or even wolf hair.

The technique is more than a millennium old, achieving its maximum of popularity between 14-th and 16-th century. The initiation of Sumi-e in Japan is strictly related to Zen monks, who took care of introducing and developing it. Wash painting could be resumed to the ensemble of four essential brush strokes, also known as the "four gentlemen". Their names were inspired from the plants described by those: ume, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo. Sumi-e remains, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the expression of Zen beliefs in painting, of a simple, but universal beauty.

Most popular Chinese and Japanese artists using the ink and wash painting include Bada Shanren, Su Shi, Daqian Jushi, Mi Youren (in China), Josetsu, Shingei, Oguri Sokei, Oguri Sotan (in Japan).

Cedar Lewis contribution
Do not forget Hasegawa Tohaku from the list of Japanese Sumi-e artists. His work entitled "Pine Trees" is the iconic painting of Sumi-e painting techniques.

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