Birds in Landscape [left of a pair] c. 17th century

Curator: Isn't this such a tranquil piece? I feel a hush just looking at it. Editor: It does evoke stillness. What we're seeing here is "Birds in Landscape," a section of a painted screen, likely ink and watercolors on paper, created around the 17th century by Kano Naonobu. It resides here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. My first thought is about representation; the quietude for some perhaps reflects not so much peace, but silencing and oppression, given what the Tokugawa Shogunate was enacting in Japan at the time. Curator: Silencing—oppression—oh, heavy. I see what you're getting at. It's good to hold space for that reading, certainly. But what catches my eye, initially, are the birds themselves. The delicacy, how each is unique and captured so precisely. The painter isn't just recording nature; he’s conversing with it. I find it intimate. Editor: Indeed, they’re more than decoration, for sure. Consider, too, how "nature" itself has been historically used. Who gets access to its restorative power, and who is forced to interact with it only as a site of labor or resource extraction? Even a painting like this participates in that story, subtly defining whose perspective matters. But I agree with your comments regarding the artistry here. These types of natural works were definitely favored during the Edo period. Curator: Do you find something insidious there, then? The celebration of nature… almost as a distraction? Editor: Perhaps a strategic harmony is more accurate than just “distraction." You mentioned that this type of painting feels intimate, right? That sensibility extends beyond mere aesthetics, touching upon the complicated power relations of its historical moment. I want the listener to remember the context that produced this. Curator: All good food for thought, as always. It is lovely, though—to lose oneself, if only for a moment, in Naonobu’s gentle world, as carefully constructed and complicated as that world was. Editor: Exactly, and as such it reminds us to be mindful in our observations as well, now more than ever. Art becomes the invitation.