{{Short description|Sliding door panel by Rosetsu depicting a Tiger (ICP property of Japan)}} {{Infobox artwork | title = Tiger Fusuma | image = File:Tiger, by Nagasawa Rosetsu.jpg | other_language_1 = Japanese | other_title_1 = 虎図襖 | artist = Nagasawa Rosetsu | year = 1786 | subject = Tiger on Fusuma | dimensions = Two Right Sides: 180.0×87.0 cm each;
Left Four Sides: 183.5 x 115.5 cm each | designation = Important Cultural Property (Japan) | museum = Kushimoto Ōkyo Rosetsu Art Museum, Muryō-ji | city = Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture }}
The '''Tiger Fusuma''' (虎図襖, ''Tora zu Fusuma'') is an Edo Period sliding door ink painting created in 1786 by artist Nagasawa Rosetsu, a student of Maruyama Ōkyo in the Maruyama school based in Kyoto. The painting is considered to be a masterpiece of Edo Period art, and also a divergence from his teacher's style. Housed in the Zen temple of Muryō-ji in the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, it is classified as an Important Cultural Property (重要文化財, ''jūyō bunkazai'').<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Heather |date=2018-08-27 |title=Nagasawa Rosetsu and The Tiger |url=https://asianartnewspaper.com/nagasawa-rosetsu/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Asian Art Newspaper |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=串本応挙芦雪館とは -About Okyo Rosetsu Art Museum- |url=https://muryoji.jp/museum/about/index.html |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=muryoji.jp}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=串本応挙芦雪館:室中之間 -The main hall of Muryo temple room No.3- |url=https://muryoji.jp/museum/room03/index.html |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=muryoji.jp}}</ref>
== Background == At Muryō-ji, local legend states that he completed the ''Tiger Fusuma'' with a companion piece, the ''Dragon Fusuma'' in the span of one night.<ref name=":0" />
== Description == The ''Tiger Fusuma'' decorates the left side of the main hall of Muryō-ji's Buddhist altar room, composed of six total panels. The lower-right to the right side depicts ground in the form of a triangular formation.<ref name=":1" />
The centerpiece is the tiger, with an arc-shaped body from the eyes, the torso, the hind limbs and tail that corresponds to the ''Dragon Fusuma'' on the opposite side of the room.<ref name=":1" />
Depicted as fierce, the tiger is also anthropomorphized and also softened with more kitten-like features. It is likely that Rosetsu modelled his tiger on those on display at a private zoo, as tigers were known to be Chinese imports during the Edo period. It's divergence from depictions in Chinese painting indicates the development of his own style.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=The Great Japan Exhibition : art of the Edo period 1600-1868 : Royal Academy of Arts London 1981-2 |publisher=Royal Academy of Arts; catalogue published in association with Weidenfeld and Nicolson |year=1981 |pages=90 |language=English}}</ref>
Vigorous brushstrokes are used in addition to fingerpainting or ''shitoga.''<ref name=":0" />
The painting signature reads "''Hei Hyōkei sha" (copied by "Hyōkei of Kyoto")'' with the seal of ''"Gyo".''<ref name=":3" />
== Exhibition == In 1981, the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where it gained reception as a "masterpiece".<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />
The paint saw further exhibition outside of the temple in Japan in 2000, 2011, and 2017, before once again, being displayed abroad at the Rietberg Museum in Zürich, Switzerland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Japan's Best-Known Tiger - Nagasawa Rosetsu at Rietberg Museum {{!}} Widewalls |url=https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/nagasawa-rosetsu-rietberg-museum-zurich |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=www.widewalls.ch |language=en}}</ref>
From 7 October to 3 December 2023, both the ''Tiger'' and the ''Dragon Fusuma'' are exhibited together in the first retrospective exhibit in Osaka for Rosetsu at the Nakanoshima Museum of Art.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-08-21 |title=NAGASAWA ROSETSU: The Legendary Edo Master of Eccentric Painting {{!}} Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka |url=https://nakka-art.jp/en/exhibition-post/rosetsu-2023-en/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=nakka-art.jp |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1786 paintings Category:Paintings of tigers Category:Tangible Cultural Properties of Wakayama Prefecture Category:Japanese paintings